By Garvin Karunaratne,

Please consider getting the Army to establish the Marketing Department of the Fifties and thereby enable vegetable availability as well as controlling inflation. It can be later developed to be a major department. The total outlay can be recouped including the cost of establishing a Cannery within the first year. I can vouch for this,

My earlier paper is reproduced and if implemented now(can be done in days) will be a great feat. Thanks Garvin Karunaratne(garvin_karunaratne @ hotmail com)26/03/2020

Our President’s Clarion Call for a Remedy to high veg prices.
Posted on February 25th, 2020

By Garvin Karunaratne,

It is hoped that our President’s attention is brought to the fact that our country was the only country in the world to  have a system by which the prices of veg and fruit was unofficially controlled. That was the Marketing Department(MD) at work, buying and selling vegetables and fruit, competing with private traders, keeping a low margin of around fifteen percent to cover up cost of transport and wastage in handling.

It would behove of our President to immediately order the Army to buy vegetables from the Producer Fairs, keep a margin of fifteen percent to cover cost of petrol and wastage and sell in the Cities. Traders keep at least a total of one hundred percent  at the buying place, at the wholesale dealer in Colombo and at the retailer’s place.

The Army was entrusted with this task in the days of Premier Mahinda Rajapaksa in about 1998 and then the city was full of army lorries selling vegetables. I have seen them perform this yeoman service.

The Dambulla Economic Centre and economic Centers at many places- is not the answer, because as detailed in the Daily Mirror of 24/2 Take Immediate steps to control Veg prices: Pres. to Officials” because vegetables brought to Dambulla from the areas of vegetable cultivation are distributed back (for sale) to the original areas… these centers are controlled by large scale traders  with vested interests.” Once it was reported that the officer entrusted with the Dambulla Economic Center was severely assaulted.

It is traders that rule. When I once went to Dambulla and walked around, it was only traders. My incessant visits to producer Fairs  for over six years enables me to sniff producers from a fair distance. It will be a difficult task to find a Producer Fair in entire Sri Lanka not visited by me.

In 1955 when I joined the MD as an Assistant Commissioner we did work from small shanty type of  sheds- we called them Packing Sheds. They were all buildings built with timber, a cement floor and a corrugated cladding to keep off the rain and in a corner was housed the Assistant Commissioner working in the air and dust of onions and condiments. There were no DPJ Towers or Setsiripayas for us.  These were shed put up overnight to house the British Army when the Japanaese declared war.

In the MD,our work commenced at 4 AM in the mornings on at least four days a week, visiting Producer fairs and ensuring that we bought produce competing with the traders.

I include parts of my earlier writings, edited to avoid repetition in support.

(From:High Prices for Vegetables: Is there a remedy? Posted on January 19th, 2020 0

Once in the pre IMF days, in the days before Sri Lanka started playing poodle to the IMF Sri Lanka did have a method by which it controlled inflation.

That was the Marketing Department at work. There was a  scheme where the Marketing Department purchased vegetables at the producer fairs, brought the produce overnight to the cities and sold the produce keeping a very low margin of fifteen percent to cover up cost of transport and wastage. This Scheme which had been developed by Sri Lankan administrators and politicians was abolished on instructions from the IMF in 1978 when the Jayawardena Government caved in to the IMF. Since then it is the private sector traders that rule trade.

If only the Marketing Department  activities are restored, we can not only control inflation, but we can also reduce imports and also find employment for our people.

It is time that our new Government makes an initiative to re establish the Marketing Department activities- its vegetable and fruit marketing scheme and the Canning Factory. That will be a real achievement.

Inflation- Rising Prices is a major concern today. Sri Lanka had built up the infrastructure to control inflation. What we are seeing today-unbridled inflation, has been caused because we  did away with the infrastructure we had.

For the marketing of essential commodities, in my own words:

The Department for the Development  of Agricultural Marketing”¦ ensured that prices of all essential commodities were indirectly controlled and the traders were compelled to offer fair prices to the producers and the retail shop keepers were compelled to sell at fair prices to consumers.  This is a system that I have never seen elsewhere in the world’ ¦The motto of the Department was to pay the highest possible price to the producer and sell at the lowest possible price  to the consumer.( From: How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka,”¦ (Godages: 2006)

 I was involved with the entire System because I was appointed Assistant Commissioner for the Development of Agricultural Marketing in 1955, and worked in the Ratnapura, Hambantota, Anuradhapura  Districts as well as was in charge of the Tripoli Market, the Headquarters of the Vegetable Marketing Scheme for a year in 1957.

 This System involved a Network of Retail Shops(Fair Price Shops) in every major city and a Vegetable  and Fruit Marketing Scheme involving purchasing, selling and processing   vegetables and fruits, a Scheme  that covered the entire island.

The entire island was covered by Assistant Commissioners in the Provinces and Marketing Officers posted in producer areas, who had to report the availability of produce, prices at the Fairs, and guide producers to plant varieties in demand.

The Marketing Department established Vegetable and Fruit Packing Sheds(actually purchasing units) in all producing areas. The name given was packing sheds and they were in many places in temporary buildings mostly made with timber. Even some Assistant Commissioners had their offices in these temporary buildings in 1955.

The entire Vegetable Marketing Scheme was administered from Tripoli Market, based in the largest hangar in the Colombo Goodshed.  One part of the Scheme was to purchase vegetables and fruits from producers who brought their produce to our Vegetable Packing Sheds. They were paid immediate cash. The Department was equipped with lorries that were sent to the chief  Producer Fairs in the producer areas. Thus there were mobile purchasing uints at all major fairs like Embilipitiya, Colombage Ara,  Bandarawela, Welimada, Kekirawa to mention just a few. These Purchasing Units comprised Marketing Officers and a staff of purchasing officers and labourers. The produce brought in was weighed and accepted from producers and they were paid cash immediately. The Assistant Commissioners of the Districts were required to visit all major fairs to ensure that the purchases were made regularly. When I worked in the Districts on most days my day commenced at four to get to the Fairs by six in the morning. Vegetables were purchased and packed and dispatched to Triploi by evening either by wagons(by trains) or by special lorry.

At Tripoli Market, the Assistant Commissioner  had a Marketing Officer at the Colombo Wholesale Market. His task was to report the prices at which the wholesale traders sold the produce to the retail traders and to report on the availability of produce. In the Districts, the Assistant Commissioners and the Marketing Officers had to report the prices at which private traders purchased vegetables and fruit.  Generally there was a wide gap between the prices at which the traders purchased goods and the prices at which the Wholesale Traders sold to the retail traders in Colombo. Based on these prices, the Assistant Commissioner at Tripoli Market decided the purchasing prices at which goods were to be purchased at the Fairs. This price was always above the prices offered by the traders who bought goods at the Fairs. This helped the producers and the traders at the Fairs too had to offer a similar price because otherwise they will be out of business.

On a daily basis Tripoli Market received around twenty wagon loads of vegetables and a similar number of lorries bringing in produce. These were checked and had to be in our Retail shops by ten in the morning.  Tripoli Market was a hive of activity from early morning.  Then the Railways ran a very efficient service and brought in produce in time.  For instance curd from Ridiyagama Farm in Hambantota was sent by lorry to Matara and came by night mail train to Tripoli. This was an item in high demand. The retail price we fixed for Ridiyagama Curd effectively controlled the prices of curd in private shops in Colombo.

The Assistant Commissioner at Triploi Market kept a very low margin to cover up cost of transport and handling and fixed a low price for sales to the consumers through the network of Shops. Generally the Marketing Department kept a margin of around 10 to 15% above the purchase price while the private trader at the Fair  kept a margin to 40 to 50% and the Whoelsale Traders too kept around 40% and further the retail trader too kept around 40%.  Thus while the private trader generally kept a margin of 100% or 120% over the purchasing price at the Fair, the Marketing Department kept a margin of 10% to 15%.  

The working of the Marketing Department  meant that the private traders at the Fairs and the Wholesale Traders as well as the Retail Traders in the cities had to be satisfied with a low margin.

The Marketing Department in the Fifties was headed by BLW Fernando, a Chartered Accountant and he would not allow any Assistant Commissioner to keep a higher margin than 15%. That was a rule to be followed. Every month all Assistant Commissioners had to attend a Conference where the Profit and Loss calculations were closely studied and the Commissioner would chastise all Assistant Commissioners that  had a profit of over 10% or incurred a loss.  We were expected to cover up, not to incur a loss or  to get a large profit.

This was the key method by which the prices of vegetables and fruits were kept in check. The Scheme has thus a dual aim- of offering the producer a fair price as well as offering the consumer a low price.  At times it was like walking on a rope but we got used to walk on it.

The Retail Shops had to be well stocked and full of goods otherwise the wrath of the Commissioner had to be faced.

A few years ago on one of my visits I found tomatoes being sold at forty rupees a kilo by a producer on the Mahiyangana Road, when the retail price in Colombo was around rupees eighty to one hundred, a margin of over hundred percent. This could not happen while the Marketing Department was at work. The Assistant Commissioners  were eternally traveling as they had to visit Fairs, inspect purchasing at the Fairs and the Vegetable Purchasing Depots, contact producers and offer advice on items on demand. Generally our traveling allowances exceeded our salaries.

Tripoli Marker had cold rooms where the excess produce could be stored.

This Vegetable Marketing & Fruit Marketingh Scheme  was very successful in ensuring that consumers in cities obtained vegetables and fruits at cheap rates. The Cost of Living was effectively kept in check.

 The Canning Factory

Local producers got a boost with the establishment of the Canning Factory in 1955. At that time Sri Lanka imported fruit juice and fruit from Australia and the task of the Canning factory was to produce fruit juice, jam and jellies. The Vegetable Purchasing Centers sent goods to the Canning Factory. At the initial stages in canning fruit juice many problems were faced and it took over a year to surmount them and get down to production for all Sri Lanka’s requirements. The Marketing Department offered  floor prices for pineapples, red pumpkin and ash pumpkin and producers benefited immensely. Floor prices meant that the Department will purchase everything offered at that price. Pineapple was tinned and even an export trade was built up. Assistant Commissioner Oswald Tilekeratne spread his wings abroad very often. Red Pumpkin was turned into Golden Melon Jam and Ash Pumpkin was turned into Silver Melon jam. The Factory activity made Sri Lanka self sufficient in fruit juice, jam and many other processed food within a few years.

The Marketing Department was called upon to attend to many tasks.

Once Sri Lanka was not self sufficient in eggs. The Marketing Department offered a floor price for eggs and Triploi Market collected eggs from the Negombo-Nattandiya area till Sri Lanka was self sufficient in egg production. Once Self sufficiency was  reached the scheme was disbanded.

With the abolition of the Marketing Department, and the privatization of the canning factory all this achievement was lost. That was the way in which the IMF crippled the development of the Third World and created a situation where we had to import our requirements from the Developed Countries.

Once the tomatoes producers at Hanguranketa made pandals of tomatoes in order to highlight their plight of not being able to sell their tomatoes. This could not have happened while the Marketing Department was functioning. To start with the Assistant Commissioner of the area would be held responsible. If that happened when I was in charge of The Tripoli Market I would have sent a few lorries and the entire stock of tomatoes would have been purchased within a few hours and it would have been turned into Tomatoe Sauce and Juice at the Factory. The MD had a fleet of over a hundred lorries. Today Spain produces tomatoe sauce, tomatoe juice, tomato paste and sun dried tomatoes for most countries in Europe. With a Tomatoe belt in Hanguranketa we cannot produce tomato sauce even for our requirements. Our climate had enabled a variety of crops. There is a mango belt from Anuradhapura to Matale. Even today if action is taken to pluck mangoes and process it, we can be self sufficient in all fruit juice within six months. The Chena cultivators will find sales for their Red Pumpkin,Ash Pumpkin and Melon. There is an Avacado belt from Peradeniya to Gampola and avacado juice can easily be made. The country will benefit by avoiding the millions spent on imports.

Following the liberalization free market economics of the IMF we  created a market for tomatoe sauce from the USA, and fruit juice from as far as Canada and Oregan in the USA.  Our producers have stopped producing large quantities for fear of being unable to sell and we have unemployment and our farmers have low incomes. The Colombo Supermarkets are full of Heinz Tomatoes sauce from the USA and fruit juice and jam from Australia.Even vinegar from the USA! The IMF did its work right to cripple development in our countries and for us to buy goods from the Developed Countries.  That was the Structural Adjustment Programme in action. (For more details: How the IMF Sabotaged Third World Development: Kindle & Godages) It is sad that we have   deaf, dumb and blind  economists who even fail to come to grips with how we were duped by the IMF.

I hope the Army will be enlisted for this task of marketing development. In President Trump’s USA the Army is widely used for irrigation, power station construction, even maintaining levees that keep the sea from flooding New Orleans. In my wide travel in the USA, clocking over 50,000 miles in my Roadtrek motorhome, crossing America thrice I have seen the Army at work doing non military duties on a regular basis. It is we fools that do not enlist the Army for development tasks. If at all we touch the army we call them to the barracks in a short while.

Let the Army experience of Van Sales, this time end with the establishing of a proper Marketing Department with a Cannery. The total cost of establishing a Cannery can be easily recouped in the very first year by the savings of foreign exchange we use today to import fruit juice and fruit preparations   Later on the Army venture can be handed over to a SLAS Department and the Army moved to another task- perhaps the reconstruction of our irrigation tanks.

Let me live in hope.

Garvin Karunaratne,

25/2/2020

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane

Rev. Tom Honey was the Parish priest (vicar) of the Church of England in Oxford for more than 20 years and was highly reputed for his thoughtful sermons and the best perhaps being the one he gave in 2005, on Almighty God and Tsunami Disaster” after the devastation caused by the Indian ocean tsunami in which some 300,000 people died.  https://www.ted.com/speakers/revtom honey. 

What he said then on god and the tsunami devastation, is directly applicable to the present CORONA VIRUS HEALTH DISASTER as well. The corona virus pandemic has been spreading rapidly across the world, affecting more than 520,000 people by late March 2020, in 175 countries, with a death toll of more than 23,500. Numbers affected and death toll appear to show an increasing trend, especially in European (Catholic and Christian countries), notably Italy, Spain, France, Portugal, Germany, UK, Netherland,  Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden, Turkey, Austria, Denmark and among non-European countries, the most affected are in China, USA, Iran, Brazil and South Korea

Rev. Tom Honey, the British Parish priest said in his sermon, How can the existence of evil be reconciled with an almighty God who is also all-loving, all-knowing and all-powerful? I have been a parish priest in the Church of England for more than twenty years. For most of that time I’ve been grappling with questions about the nature of God. I’m very aware that when you say God, most people within and outside the church, still have a picture of a celestial controller, a policeman in the sky who orders everything and causes events to happen. He will protect his own people and answer the prayers of the faithful. In the worship of our church the most frequent adjective when we address God is ‘almighty’; but I have become more and more uncomfortable with this common perception of God over the years. Do we really believe in the male boss that our liturgies proclaim?”

He said Two weeks after the tsunami, Sunday morning 9th January. I found myself standing in front of my congregation, intelligent, well-meaning, thoughtful Christian people. I needed to express, on their behalf our feelings and our questions. This is what I said. Shortly after the tsunami I read a newspaper article, written by Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, about the tragedy in Southern Asia. The essence of his words was this: the people most affected by the devastation and loss of life do not want intellectual theories, about how God can let this happen. If some religious genius did come up with an explanation of exactly why all these deaths made sense, would we feel happier, or safer or more confident in God?”

If the man in the photograph holding the hand of his dead child was standing in front of us now, there are no words that we could say to him. The only appropriate response would be compassionate silence and practical help. It isn’t really a time for preaching or theology, but for tears. This is true, and yet we are here, semi-detached from events so far away, with our faith bruised, and we want an explanation from God.”

Some have concluded that we can only believe in a God who shares our pain. In some way, God feels the anguish and grief, and physical pain that we feel. In some way the eternal God can enter into the souls of human beings and experience the torment within. And if this is true, it must also be that God knows the joy and exaltation of the human spirit. A God who weeps with those who weep and rejoices with those who rejoice. This seems to me both a deeply moving and a convincing restatement of Christian belief about God. For hundreds of years the prevailing orthodoxy, the accepted truth was that God the Father, the creator, is unchanging and therefore cannot feel pain or sadness. The unchanging God feels a bit cold and indifferent to me. I wonder if you agree.”

The devastating events of the 20th century forced people to question the cold unfeeling God. The slaughter of millions in the trenches and in the death camps, caused people to ask, ‘Where is God in all this?’ And the answer was, God is in this with us, or God doesn’t deserve our allegiance. If God is a bystander, observing but not involved, then God may exist, but we don’t want to know about him. Many Jews and Christians now feel like this, I know. And I am among them. So, we have a suffering God. A God who is intimately connected with this world, and with every living soul. I very much relate to this idea of God. But it isn’t enough. I need to ask some more questions, and I hope they are questions that some of you want to ask as well, some of you.

Over the last few weeks I have been struck by the number of times that words in our worship have felt a bit inappropriate, a bit dodgy. On Tuesday mornings we have a Pram Service for Mums and their pre-school children. Last week we sang with the children, one of their favourite songs – The Wise Man Built His House on the Rock. Some of the words go like this the foolish man built his house upon the sand…….and the floods came up……and the house on the sand went crash”. Then at a funeral there was the familiar hymn We plough the fields and scatter”. In the second verse comes the line, the wind and waves obey him.” Do they? I don’t think we can sing those words again. So, the first big question is about control. Is God in control? Does God order each moment? Does God have a plan for each of us? Do the wind and waves obey him?

From time to time one hears Christians telling the story of how God organised things for them, so that everything worked out alright. Some difficulty was overcome, some illness cured, some trouble averted, a parking space found at a crucial time. I can remember someone saying this to me, her eyes shining bright with joy, as a wonderful confirmation of her faith and the goodness of God. But if God can or will do these things, intervene to change the flow of events, then surely, he could have stopped the tsunami happening. A local god who can do little things like parking spaces, but not big things like 500mph waves. That’s not acceptable, and we must acknowledge it. Either God is responsible for the tsunami, or God is not in control. After the tragedy, survival stories began to emerge. The man who surfed the wave. The teenage girl who recognised the danger because she had just been learning about tsunamis at school. Then there was the congregation who had left their usual church building on the shore to hold a service in the hills. The preacher delivered an extra long sermon, so that they were still out of harm’s way when the wave struck. Afterwards someone said God had been looking after them. So, the next question is about partiality. Can we earn God’s favour by worshipping him or believing in him? Does God demand loyalty like any medieval tyrant? A god who looks after his own, so that Christians are ok, while the others perish. A cosmic us and them, and a god who is guilty of the worst kind of favouritism. That would be appalling, and I would have to hand back my membership. Such a god would be morally inferior to the highest ideals of humanity.

So, who is God, if not the great puppet-master or the tribal protector of Christians? Perhaps God allows or permits terrible things to happen, so that heroism and compassion can be shown. Perhaps God is testing us, testing our charity or our faith. Perhaps there is a great, cosmic plan that allows for horrible suffering so that everything will work out in the end. Perhaps, but all these ideas are variations of God controlling everything. The supreme commander toying with expendable units, in a great campaign. We are still left with a God who can do the tsunami and allow Auschwitz. Almighty God is just incompatible with loving God.

In his great novel The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky gives these words to Ivan, addressed to his naive, devout younger brother Aly osha, If the sufferings of children go to make up the sum of sufferings which is necessary for the purchase of truth, then I say beforehand that the entire truth is not worth such a price….we cannot afford to pay so much for admission….it is not God that I do not accept. I merely most respectfully return him the ticket.” Or perhaps God set the whole universe going at the beginning and then relinquished control for ever, so that natural processes could occur, and evolution run its course. This seems more acceptable, but it still leaves God with the ultimate moral responsibility for human behaviour and natural processes. Is God a cold unfeeling spectator?…or a powerless lover, watching with infinite compassion things God is unable to change?…..Or is God intimately involved in our suffering, so that God feels it in his own being.

If we believe something like this, we must let go of the puppet-master completely, take our leave of the almighty controller. Abandon traditional models. We must think again about God. Maybe God doesn’t do things at all. Maybe God isn’t an agent in the sense that we are all agents. Early religious thought conceived God as a sort of super human person, doing mighty acts all over the place. The God of the Old Testament fought for his people, drowned the Egyptians in the Red Sea, wasted cities, and wiped out the enemy down to the last woman and child. The people knew their God by his mighty acts.

But what if God doesn’t act? What if God doesn’t do things at all? What if God is in things? The loving soul of the universe. An indwelling, compassionate presence, underpinning and sustaining all things. What if God is in things? In the infinitely complex network of relationships and connections that make up life. In the natural cycle of life and death, the creation and destruction that happen continuously. In the process of evolution. In the incredible intricacy and magnificence of the natural world in the collective unconscious, the soul of the human race. In you and me, mind and body and spirit, in the tsunami, in the victims. In the depth of things. In presence and in absence. In simplicity and complexity, in change and development and growth.

How does this in-ness, this interiority of God work? It’s hard to conceive and begs more questions. Is God just another name for the universe, with no independent, external existence? I don’t know. To what extent can we ascribe personality to God? I don’t know. In the end, we have to say, I don’t know”. If we knew, God would not be God. To have faith in this God would be more like trusting an essential goodness and benevolence in the universe, and less like believing a system of doctrinal statements. Isn’t it ironic that Christians who claim to believe in an infinite, unknowable being, then tie God down in closed systems and rigid doctrines? Faith in God demands the huge step of saying, despite all appearances to the contrary, I trust that there is a loving presence, but I will live without knowing.”

How would one practise such a faith? By seeking the God within. By cultivating my own inwardness. In silence, in meditation, in my inner space, in the me that remains when I gently put aside my passing emotions and ideas and preoccupations. In awareness of the inner conversation. How would I live such a faith? By seeking intimate connection with your inwardness. The kind of relationships when deep speaks to deep. If God is in all people, then there is a meeting place where my relationship with you becomes a three-way encounter. There is an Indian greeting ‘namaste’, accompanied by a respectful bow which roughly means, ‘that which is of God in me greets that which is of God in you’. How would one deepen such a faith? By seeking the inwardness which is in all things. In music and poetry, in the natural world of beauty, in the small ordinary things of life, there is a deep indwelling presence that makes them extraordinary. But it needs a profound attentiveness, and a patient waiting. A contemplative attitude, an awareness of my own infinite value, and a generosity and openness to those whose experience is different from mine.

When I stood up to speak to my people about God and the tsunami, I had no answers to offer them. No neat packages of faith with Bible references to prove them. Only doubts and questions and uncertainty. I had some suggestions to make – possible new ways of thinking about God. Ways that might allow us to go on, down a new and uncharted road. But in the end the only thing I could say for sure was I don’t know, and that might just be the most profoundly religious statement of all.

DR ROWAN WILLIAMS –  THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY

Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, writes in The Sunday Telegraph UK, on 02 January 2005 a deeply personal and candid article, where he says “it would be wrong” if faith were not “upset” by the catastrophe which has already claimed more than 150,000 lives. The Asian tsunami disaster should make all Christians question the existence of God, 

Dr Rowan Williams admits that Prayer provides no ‘magical solutions’ and most of the stock Christian answers to human suffering do not “go very far in helping us, one week on, with the intolerable grief and devastation in front of us”.

Dr Williams, who, as head of the Church of England, represents 70 million Anglicans around the world, writes: “Every single random, accidental death is something that should upset a faith bound up in comfort and ready answers. Faced with the paralysing magnitude of a disaster like this, we naturally feel more deeply outraged – and also more deeply helpless.” He adds: “The question, ‘How can you believe in a God who permits suffering on this scale?’ is therefore very much around at the moment, and it would be surprising if it weren’t – indeed it would be wrong if it weren’t.” Dr Williams concludes that, faced with such a terrible challenge to their faith, Christians must focus on “passionate engagement with the lives that are left”.

ආචාර්ය වරුණ චන්ද්‍රකීර්ති

තමන් මුහුණ දුන් කෝවිඩ් – 19 උවදුරෙන් අත්මිදීමට චීනය සමත් විය. එහෙත් ඉතාලිය ඇතුළු බටහිර රටවල් මෙම සටන තුළ බලවත් අර්බුදයකට මුහුණ පා සිටිති. මේ වන විට අපිදු මෙම වසංගතය නිසා පීඩාවට පත් වී සිටිමු. චීනය මෙම සටනින් ජය ගත්තේ කෙසේ ද, බටහිර රටවල් මුහුණ දී සිටින ගැටලුව මොකක්ද, මේ සියල්ලෙන් අපට උගත හැකි පාඩම් මොනවා ද යන මේ ප්‍රශ්නවලට පිළිතුරු ලබා ගැනීම සඳහා අප හමුවූයේ අන්තර්-සංස්කෘතික සන්නිවේදනය සහ චීන අධ්‍යයන විෂයය පිළිබඳ ප්‍රාමාණිකයකු ද සමාජ විචාරකයකු ද වන ආචාර්ය වරුණ චන්ද්‍රකීර්ති මහතායි.

කොරෝනා උවදුරෙන් මිදෙන්න චීනයට පුළුවන් වෙලා. ඒ අය මේ සටන ජයගත්තේ කොහොම ද?

මේ වගේ මහා පරිමාණ අර්බුදයක් ආණ්ඩුවකට හරි හමුදාවකට හරි තනියෙන් පාලනය කරන්න බෑ. වෛද්‍යවරුන්ටත් බෑ. මේකට සියලුම ජනතාව එක විදිහට සම්බන්ධ වෙන සාමුහික ප්‍රයත්නයක් ඕන. හැම කෙනෙක් ම තමන්ගේ වගකීම හඳුනාගෙන ඒ දේ කරන්න ඕන. මේක මිනිස්සුන්ගේ පැත්තෙන් ගත්තාමත් තනි වගකීමක් නෙවෙයි. අපි මේක තේරුම් ගන්න ඕන සාමූහික වගකීමක් විදිහට. සාමුහිකත්වය කියන්නේ සංස්කෘතික විදිහට නිර්මාණය වෙන දෙයක්. අවුරුදු හාර පන්දාහක දීර්ඝ ඉතිහාසයක් තියෙන චීන මිනිස්සු තුළ තාමත් අඩුවක් නැතුව සාමුහිකත්වය තියෙනවා. චීන කොමියුනිස්ට් පක්‍ෂය මුල් වෙලා කරපු විප්ලවය ජයග්‍රහණයෙන් අවසන් වුනෙත් මේ සාමුහික ගුණය මනාව හදුනා ගෙන ඒ වැඩේ කරපු හින්දා. ඉතින් මේ වතාවේ කොරෝනාව පරද්දන සටනටත් චීන මිනිස්සු ළඟ තියෙන ඒ සාමුහික ගුණය හේතු වුනා.

චීනයේ තියෙන දැඩි පාලනය මේකට හේතු වුනා කියන්න බැරි ද?

කොච්චර දැඩි පාලනයකට වුනත් සමාජයක හැම අස්සක් මුල්ලක් ම බලන්න බෑ. මේ දවස්වල අපේ රටේ ඇඳිරි නීතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙනවා. මේක ඉතාමත් දැඩි විදිහට මිනිස්සු පාලනය කිරීමක්. ඒත් මේ නීතිය පනවපු පමණින් මිනිස්සු ගෙවල්වලට වෙලා ඉන්නවා ද? හැම ගමක් අස්සට ම පොලීසියට යන්න පුළුවන් ද? අපේ රටේ වගේ ජනගහනයක් ද චීනයේ ඉන්නේ? චීනය කොච්චර නම් ලොකු ද? ඉතින් දැඩි පාලනයක් තිබුණා කියලා මේ වගේ වැඩ කරන්න බෑ. මේක මිනිස්සු එකතු වෙලා සාමූහික විඥානයකින් කරන්න ඕන වැඩක්.

සාමුහික විඥානයක් කියලා ඔබ අදහස් කරන්නේ?

තව සති තුනක් ගත වෙන්න කලින් අපි සිංහල අවුරුද්ද සමරනවා. අවුරුද්දට අදාළ වැඩ අපි කරන්නේ ආණ්ඩුවේ හරි කාගේ හරි නියෝගවලට අවනත වෙලා නෙවෙයි. මේ වැඩේට අදාළ සාමූහික විඥානයක් අපිට තියෙනවා. ඉතින් අපි හැමෝම ඒකට අදාළ වැඩ එක විදිහකට කරනවා. මේ විඥානය උපද්දවලා තියෙන්නේ සංස්කෘතිය විසින්. පහුගිය දවස්වල අපේ තරුණ ළමයි එකතු වෙලා තාප්පවල චිත්‍ර ඇන්දෙත් එක්තරා සාමූහික විඥානයකින් බැඳිලා. යුද්ධයක් ඇති වුනාමත් අපි මේ විදිහට සාමූහිකව බැ‍ඳෙනවා. මේ හැකියාව සංස්කෘතික විදිහට හැඩ ගහගෙන නැතිනම් මිනිස්සුන්ට තමන්ගේ වගකීම හඳුනාගෙන එකතු වෙන්න බෑ.

ඉතාලියේ අයට මේ සංස්කෘතික පුහුණුව නැති ද?

ඉතාලිය කියන්නේ කතෝලික රටක්. කතෝලික කියන වචනයේ තේරුමත් සාමූහික කියන එක. ඉතින් ඉතාලි සංස්කෘතිය ඇතුළේ මේ පුහුණුව තියෙන්න ඕන. ඒත් මේ බටහිර රටවල් දැන් වැඩි තැනක් දෙන්නේ ලිබරල් සංස්කෘතියට. ප්‍රංශ විප්ලවය මහා ජයග්‍රහණයක් විදිහට බටහිර රටවල්වල සළකන්නේ පැරැණි සාමූහික සමාජ ක්‍රමය බිඳ දාලා ලිබරල් ලෝකයක් උදා කරන වැඩේට අදාළ මූලික පෙරැළියක් ඒකෙන් සනිටුහන් කෙරුණු හින්දා. ඉතින් දැන් කතෝලික, ක්‍රිස්තියානි භේදයක් නැතුව මේ හැම රටක් ම සාමූහිකත්වය අමතක කරලා, පුද්ගලිකත්වයට මුල් තැනක් දෙන ලිබරල් සංස්කෘතියට යට වෙලා.

ඒත් බටහිර රටවල්වල පාලන ක්‍රමය හොදින් සංවිධාන ගත කරලා තියෙනවානේ?

තර්කානුකූල විදිහට හිතලා ඇති කරපු පාලන යාන්ත්‍රණයක් බටහිර රටවල්වල තියෙනවා. ඊට අමතරව නීතියේ පාලනයත් ඉහළින් ම තියෙනවා. ඉතින් රට පාලනය කරන්නේ කවුද කියන එක ඒ අයට අදාළ නෑ. කවුරු ජනාධිපති වුනත්, කවුරු අගමැති වුනත් පාලන යන්ත්‍රය ඒකට අදාළ විදිහට ම ඉස්සරහට යනවා. ඒත් මේ වගේ මහා පරිමාණ ආපදාවක දී ඒ යන්ත්‍රය අකර්මන්‍ය වෙනවා. මෙහෙම වෙලාවට කරන්න ඕන මොකක්ද කියලා යන්ත්‍රය දන්නේ නෑ. ඒ යන්ත්‍රය මෙහෙයවන අය දන්නෙත් නෑ. ඔක්කොම වගකීම් යන්ත්‍රයට පවරලා තමන්ගේ පුද්ගලිකත්වයේ ගැලිලා ඉන්න සාමාන්‍ය මිනිස්සු ඒ ගැන කිසිම දෙයක් දන්නේ නෑ.

එතකොට අපේ රටේ වෙලා තියෙන්නේ මොකක් ද?

අපිත් චීන ජනතාව වගේ ම දීර්ඝ ඉතිහාසයකට උරුමකම් කියන ජාතියක්. ඉතින් ඒ හරහා උරුම කරගත්ත සාමූහිකත්වයක් අපිට තියෙනවා. මේක අදාළ සාමූහික විඥානය ඉස්සරහට එන්නේ අපි අවුරුදු කද්දි විතරක් නෙවෙයි. නාය යෑමක්, මහා ගංවතුරක් වගේ හදිසි ආපදාවක් ඇති වුනාමත් අපේ මිනිස්සු සාමූහිකව ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙලා ඒ ප්‍රශ්න විසඳා ගන්නවා. ඒ වෙලාවට අපේ රාජ්‍ය යාන්ත්‍රණය හරිම අකාර්යක්‍ෂම බව අපි දන්නවා. චක්‍රලේඛවලින්, නියෝගවලින් අපේ මිනිස්සු මෙහෙයවන්න බෑ. හැබැයි දැන් තියෙන්නේ වසංගතයක් හින්දා මේකට එරෙහි සටනට මිනිස්සු එකතු කරන්න පුළුවන් වෙනත් ක්‍රම අපි හොයාගන්න ඕන. මොන විදිහකින් හරි මේ සටනටත් අපි අපේ සාමූහික විඥානයෙන් වැඩ ගන්න ඕන.

ඒත් දැන් අපි කරන්නේ වගකීම ආණ්ඩුවට පවරලා බලාගෙන ඉන්න එකනේ?

අපි බලාගෙන ඉන්නවා නම් ඒත් කමක් නෑ. ඒ වුනත් ඇඳිරි නීතිය වගේ ක්‍රමවලින් අපේ මිනිස්සු මේච්චල් කරන්න බෑ. කරන්න ඕන හොඳම වැඩේ තමයි මිනිස්සුන්ට වගකීම් පවරන එක. ඒක වුනත් නියෝගවලින් කරන්න බෑ. අපි එකතු වෙලා මෙහෙම කරමු” කියලා කිව්වොත් විතරයි අපේ මිනිස්සු ඒ වගේ වැඩට සම්බන්ධ වෙන්නේ.

මොන වගේ වැඩ ද මේ විදිහට කරන්න පුළුවන්?

කොටි ප්‍රශ්නය තියෙන කාලේ අපි සිවිල් ආරක්‍ෂක කමිටු ක්‍රියාත්මක කළා. ඒක සාමූහික විදිහට වගකීම පැවරීමක්. ඉතින් මේ සටන සඳහාත් අපිට පුළුවන් සිවිල් ආරක්‍ෂක කමිටු පිහිටුවන්න. අපේ ගම්වල පන්සලේ ස්වාමීන්වහන්සේලා, ග්‍රාමීය නායකයෝ සහ තරුණ පිරිස් සම්බන්ධ කරගෙන මේ වැඩේ කරන්න පුළුවන්. ත්‍රී රෝද රථ ධාවනය කරන අයටත් පුළුවන් මේ වෙනුවෙන් සෑහෙන වැඩ කොටසක් කරන්න.

ත්‍රී රෝද රථ ධාවනය කරන අයට?

ඔව්. ගෙවල්වල අවශ්‍යතා හඳුනා ගෙන ඕන කරන දේවල් තොග වශයෙන් ගෙනැල්ලා ඉල්ලපු දේවල් අදාළ ගෙවල්වලට බෙදන වැඩේ සිවිල් ආරක්‍ෂක කමිටුවට කරන්න පුළුවන්. ත්‍රී රෝද රථ ධාවනය කරන අයට මේ යටතේ කරන්න පුළුවන් දේවල් කියන්න ඕන නෑනේ. මෙහෙම කරන්න පුළුවන් නම් තමන්ට අවශ්‍ය දේවල් මිල දී ගන්න හැම කෙනෙක් ම කඩේ යන්න ඕන නෑ. ඒ අයට පුළුවන් තමන්ට අවශ්‍ය ගනුදෙනු ගෙදර ඉඳලා ම කරගන්න.

චීනයේත් මේ වැඩේ කළා ද?

චීනය පුරා ම සිවිල් ආරක්‍ෂක කමිටු පිහිටෙව්වා. හැබැයි චීනයේ මංගත (online) වෙළෙඳාම දියුණු හින්දා මිනිස්සු තමන්ට ඕන දේවල් මිල දී ගත්තේ ඒ හරහා. හැබැයි ඒවා ගෙයක් ගෙයක් ගානේ බෙදන එකට හවුල් වෙන්න සිවිල් ආරක්‍ෂක කමිටුවලට සිද්ද වුනා. අදාළ සමාගම්වල ඉඳලා බඩු ප්‍රවාහනය කරන අය ආවේ සිවිල් ආරක්‍ෂක නිලධාරින් ඉන්න තැනට විතරයි. ඒත් අපේ රටේ මංගත වෙළෙඳාම දියුණු නෑ. ගම්වල අයට මේ වැඩ තේරෙන්නෙත් නෑ. ඉතින් අපේ සිවිල් ආරක්‍ෂක කමිටුවලට පුළුවන් ගෙවල්වලට දුරකථන ඇමතුම් දීලා අවශ්‍ය දේවල් ගැන අහන්න. ඊට පස්සේ දවසකට දෙකකට වතාවක් ඒ අවශ්‍යතා සපුරලා දෙන්න.

මේ විදිහට වගකීම් පැවරීමෙන් ලැබෙන තවත් ප්‍රයෝජන තියෙනවා ද?

ඔව්. මේක තමන් මහන්සි වෙලා කරන සටනක් බව මේ වැඩේ හරහා මිනිස්සු තේරුම් ගන්නවා. එහෙම වුනාම ඒක කඩාකප්පල් වෙනවා දකින්න මිනිස්සු කැමැති වෙන්නේ නෑ. මේ සටනට ඕන සාමූහික විඥානය ඉතාමත් තද විදිහට මේ හරහා වර්ධනය වෙනවා. එහෙම වුනාම මේකට බාධා කරන අය මෙල්ල කරන වගකීම මිනිස්සු ස්වේච්ඡාවෙන් ම තමන්ට පවරා ගන්නවා. ඒ හින්දා පුළුවන් ඉක්මනින් ම මේ වැඩේ පටන් ගන්න ඕන කියලා මම හිතනවා.

සාමුහිකත්වයට අමතරව මේ සටන වෙනුවෙන් චීනයෙන් අපිට ගන්න පුළුවන් ආදර්ශ තියෙනවා ද?

චීනය මේ සටන දිනුවේ දේශප්‍රේමය මුල් කරගෙන. හැම වැඩ බිමක ම වගේ ශබ්ද විකාශන යන්ත්‍ර හරහා දේශප්‍රේමී ගීත ප්‍රචාරය කරන්න ඒ තැන්වල වගකීම් දරපු අය ක්‍රියා කළා. ඒ හරහා තමයි මේ සටනට අවශ්‍ය චිත්ත ධෛර්යය මිනිස්සුන්ට ලබා දුන්නේ. එහෙම වුනාම තමයි මිනිස්සු ආත්මාර්ථය පැත්තකින් තියලා තමන්ගේ ජීවිතය වුනත් කැප කරලා ඉස්සරහට යන්න ඉදිරිපත් වෙන්නේ. දේශප්‍රේමයට මුල් තැනක් දීලා තමයි මාධ්‍ය ආයතන පවා ක්‍රියා කළේ. ඉතින් අපිට ඒ ආදර්ශයත් බොහොම ප්‍රයෝජනවත්.

චීන සාම්ප්‍රදායික වෙදකමින් මේ සටනට ලැබිච්ච උදව්ව මොකක් ද?

තමන්ගේ වෙදකමට චීනයේ නීතියෙන් ම ප්‍රමුඛතාව දීලා තියෙනවා. චීනයේ තියෙන හැම බටහිර රෝහලක ම අනිවාර්යයෙන් ම චීන වෛද්‍ය අංශයක් පවත්වා ගෙන යන්න ඕන. ඊට අමතරව, චීන – බටහිර ඒකාබද්ධ රෝහල් විශාල ප්‍රමාණයකුත් චීනයේ තියෙනවා. චීනයේ ඉන්න බටහිර වෛද්‍යවරු තමන්ගේ ජාතික වෛද්‍ය උරුමයට ගරහන්නේ නෑ. ඉතින් මේ සටන දිනන්න චීන වෙදකමින් ලැබිච්ච උදව්ව බොහොම ඉහළින් චීනයේ කතා වෙනවා. චීන වෙදකමින් නිර්දේශ කරන පිළියම් මිනිස්සු අනුගමනය කරනවා.

චීනය මේ වෙද්දි ‍අනිත් රටවල්වල කොරෝනාව මඩින්නත් මැදිහත් වෙනවා නේ ද?

ඔව්. මේකත් සාමූහික විඥානය මුල් කරගෙන කරන වැඩක් කියලා තමයි මම හිතන්නේ. තමන් විතරක් දිනලා මේ හතුරා පරද්දන්න බැරි බව චීන මිනිස්සු දන්නවා. පහුගිය සතියේ ඉඳලා චීනයෙන් වාර්තා වෙච්ච හැම කොරෝනා ලෙඩෙක් ම වෙන රටවල්වල ඉඳලා චීනයට ආපු අය. ඉතින් අනිත් රටවල්වල ලෙඩේ දරුණු විදිහට පැතිරෙද්දි චීනයට විතරක් ආරක්‍ෂා වෙන්න බෑ. මේ සටනින් දිනන්න නම් මුළු ලෝකයේ ම මිනිස්සු සාමූහිකව හිතලා අදාළ වගකීම් තමන්ට පවරාගෙන කටයුතු කරන්න ඕන.

ඒ කියන්නේ ලිබරල් අදහස්වලින් ලෝකය ම මිදෙන්න ඕන කියන එක ද?

මම එහෙම ම කියන්නේ නෑ. ලිබරල් අදහස්වල තියෙන හොඳ, ගැලපෙන දේවල් අපි රැකගන්න ඕන. හැබැයි සාමූහිකත්වය අමතක කරලා පුද්ගලවාදයෙන් විතරක් නම් ඉස්සරහට යන්න මිනිස්සුන්ට බෑ. මේ ලෝකය රැක ගන්න පුළුවන් සාමූහික විදිහට එකතු වෙලා මිසක් තනි තනියෙන් තමන්ගේ අයිතිවාසිකම් ගැන හිතලා නෙවෙයි. ඉතින් මේක මිනිස් සංහතියේ අනාගතය තීරණය කරන චින්තන පරිවර්තනයකට අදාළ කරගන්න පුළුවන් අර්බුදයක් කියලා මම හිතනවා. මේ වගේ පරිවර්තන අවස්ථාවක දී ඒකට හවුල් වෙන්නේ නැතුව ආණ්ඩුවට බැන බැන ඉන්න ගියොත් අපි විශාල කරදරයකට මුහුණ දීලා තමයි වැඩේ ඉවර කර ගන්නේ. විවෘත ආර්ථිකයේ ගියෙන ගැටලු පවා මේ හරහා ඉස්සරහට ඇවිල්ලා තියෙනවා. ගෙවතු වගාව, කෘෂිකර්මයට මුල් තැන දීම වගේ දේවල් ගැන අපි දැන් සෑහෙන්න කතා කරනවා. අපි මේවා කතාවට විතරක් සීමා කරගෙන බෑ. සමුපකාරය පවා නැවත පණ ගන්වන්න ඕන.

සමුපකාර ක්‍රමය ගැන අපේ මිනිස්සුන්ට කිසිම පැහැදීමක් නෑනේ?

ඒක ඇත්ත. අපි සමුපකාර ක්‍රමය ආයෙත් ඇති කරගන්න ඕන අසාර්ථක වෙච්ච පරණ ආකෘතිය ඇතුළේ නෙවෙයි. සමුපකාරය ගමේ මිනිස්සුන්ට අයිති හවුල් සමාගමක් බවට පත් කරනවා වගේ ආකෘතික වෙනසක් කරලා තමයි අපි ඒ වැඩේ කරන්න ඕන. සහෝදරත්වයේ ආර්ථිකය (Solidarity economy) කියලා සංකල්පයක් ලෝක මට්ටමින් ඉස්සරහට එමින් තියෙනවා. අපේ සාමූහික ආර්ථික අවශ්‍යතා සම්පූර්ණ කරගන්න අපිටත් ඒ වගේ ක්‍රමයක් ගැන හිතන්න වෙනවා. අද වෙද්දි මේ අර්බුදය නිසා සුපිරි වෙළඳසල් පවා අකර්මන්‍ය වෙලා. ඇදිරි නීතිය අයින් කළාම වරුවක් විතර පෝලීමේ ඉඳලා සුපිරි වෙළඳසල් ඇතුළට යන මිනිස්සු දකින්නේ හිස් රාක්ක. ගමේ මිනිස්සුන්ට අයිති හවුල් සමාගම් විදිහට සමුපකාර ක්‍රමය ඇති කරලා තිබුණා නම් මේක වෙන්නේ නෑ. ඒ ක්‍රමය ඇතුළේ ප්‍රාග්ධන හිමියාත්, වෙළෙඳසල් සේවකයාත්, පාරිභෝගිකයාත් එකම පිරිසක්. ඉතින් ඒ අය පොදු සාමූහික වගකීමකින් කටයුතු කරන එක ඉබේම සිද්ද වෙනවා.
 
සාකච්ඡා කළේ: දිහාන් බණ්ඩාර කීරියවත්ත

චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ 

මේ දිනවලදී කොරෝනා වෛරසය ජාත්‍යන්තර දේශපාලනයේදී හා ජාතික දේශපාලනයේදී මනරම් කාර්යභාරයක් ඉටුකරමින් සිටි. අප මේ වෛරසය හා ගනුදෙනු කිරීමේදී, ඉතා බුද්ධිමත්ව කටයුතුකර කොරෝනා වෛරසය ඉතිහාසයේ, විමුක්තිදායකයකුගේ කාර්යභාරය ඉටුකළ දෙවාශිර්වාදයක් බවට පරිවර්තනය කරගත හැක.

ඉපදෙන සෑම සියලු දෙනෙක්ම මැරෙන අතර, කොරෝනා වෛරසය විසින් මේ මතක්කර දෙන්නේ, අමරණීයයි සිතාගෙන කටයුතු කරන මිනිසුන්ට මරණය ඔවුන් කරා ඕනෑම අවස්ථාවකදී ලඟා විය හැකි බව පෙන්වාදීමයි. අපි ඉතිහාසයේ, වෛරස් ගණනාවක් සමග ඇසුරුකර ඇති මිනිසුන් වශයෙන් ඒ ඒ වෛරසයන් විසින් ඉටුකරන ලද දේශපාලන කාර්යයන් සම්බන්ධව මනා අවබෝධයකින් සිටින්නෝ වෙමු. වසුරිය, සරම්ප, පැපොල, ඒඩ්ස්, ඉබෝලා, සාස්, දැන් කොරෝනාව දිදුලමින් සිටියි.

ඇමරිකාවේ මුල්පදින්චිකරුවන් වන රතු ඉන්දියානුවන්ව මිලියන ගණනින් වනසන්න එදා බටහිර ජාතින් පාවිච්චි කලේ වසුරිය වෛරසයයි. ඒ එරට තුල අධිරාජ්‍යවාදය ස්ථාපනය කල මුල් අවදියේදී වෛරසය සිදුකල දේශපාලනයයි. එදා ඒ ආකාරයෙන් ආරම්භවූ ඒ වෛරස් දේශපාලනය ඉතා දරුණු ආකාරයෙන් ජනතාව පෙළමින් මුළු ලොවම පාලනය කලේ දැඩි මර්ධනකාරී පිලිවෙතකිනි. වෛරසය, විෂ රසායනිකයන්, පරමාණු බෝම්බ, හා විවිධ බෝම්බ වර්ග, මත ද්‍රව්‍ය, ත්‍රස්තවාදය, එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සංවිධානය යන සියලුම මර්ධනකාරී යාන්ත්‍රණයන් ඉටුකළේ ජාතික හා ජාත්‍යන්තර ප්‍රජාව මර්ධනයකර සුලුතර පාලනයක් ලොව පුරාගෙන යාමයි.

අධිරාජ්‍යවාදීන් පසුකලෙක ප්‍රබලව පාවිච්චිකරන ලද වෛරසය වුයේ, ඒඩ්ස් වෛරසයයි. මෙය අප්‍රිකා මහාද්වීපය ඉලක්ක කර ස්ථාපනය කරන ලද අතර, මෙය විසින් මරා දමන ලද මිනිසුන්ගේ සංක්‍යාව හා මරා දමමින් ඉන්නා සංක්‍යාව සම්බන්ධව අද කිසිවෙක් ප්‍රශ්න නොකරන තරමට මෙය සාමාන්‍ය දෙයක් බවට පත්ව ඇත. ඒඩ්ස් අප්‍රිකාව පුරා සුවසේ සිය බලය පාවිච්චිකරමින් මිනිස් ජිවිත විනාශ කරන අතර, ඒඩ්ස් වයිරසයට පැතිරීමට ලබාදී ඇති පහසුකම් දෙස බලන විට මේ මිනිසුන් මොන තරම් තුච්ච පහත් පෙලේ අය දැයි යන්න අපට වැටහේ. ඒඩ්ස් වැළදුන රෝගියාගේ මානව අයිතිවාසිකම් සුරැකීම අනිවාර්යෙන් කලයුතු කාර්යක් සේ හඟවා රෝගියා නිරෝගී මිනිසුන් අතර රදවා ඒඩ්ස් රෝගයට හිත සුව සමාජයක් අප්‍රිකාව පුරාම නිර්මාණය කර ඇත. ඒ අධිරාජ්‍යවාදීන් අප්‍රිකාව කොල්ල කෑමට මේ වනවිටත් යොදාගෙන ඇති වෛරස් කෙවිටයි.

වර්තමානයේ ලොවපුරා රංග දෙන මේ කොරෝනා වෛරසයේ උපත අප නොදන්නා බැවින්, ඒ සම්බන්ධව පවතින කතා සම්බන්ධව අපේ අවධානය ඉවතලා, මේ වෛරසය සිදුකරන දේශපාලන අපට හිතකර ආකාරයට පාවිච්චි කිරීමට වෙර දැරිය යුතුය. දැන් මේ වෛරසයෙන් ප්‍රබලව බැටකන්නේ, ඉතාලිය, ජර්මනිය, ප්‍රංශය, ස්පාඥය, ඇමරිකාව, කැනඩාව යන රාජ්‍යන් වීම විශේෂිතය. දැන් සිදුව ඇත්තේ ශත වර්ෂ ගණනාවක් පුරා ලොව මරණය අන්ජාතීන්ට උරුමකරමින් අමරණිය ලෙස ජිවත්වුවන්ට වෛරසය පාරා වළල්ලක් බවට පත්ව තිබීමයි. අප ඒ දෙස බලාසිටිනවා මිස අන් කිසිවක් කිරීමට වෙහෙසීමක් නොකළ යුතුය. නමුත් අපි අප රට තුල මෙය මර්ධනය කර අනාගතයේ බිහිවෙන සොදුරු ලෝකයක බලය හොබවන්නේක්ගේ තත්වයට අප රට නිර්මාණය කිරීමට මග පැදිය යුතුය.

මුනියණ්ඩි කාලිදාස් කැඳවුම්කරු කඳුකර සහෝදරත්ව ව්‍යාපාරය

ඉතා බිහිසුනු ලෙස කොරෝනා වෛරසය ලොවපුරා ජීවිත දහස් ගණනින් බිලිගනිමින් තිබෙන මොහොතක ලාංකික අප ද එම භයානක තත්වයට මුහුණදී සිටින්නෙමු. මෙම වෛරසය පැරදවීම සඳහා ආණ්ඩුව විසින් තීන්දු තීරණ ගණනාවක් ගෙන තිබුනද මෙරටේ විශාල පිරිසක් ජීවත්වන වතු ආශ‍්‍රිත ජනතාවගේ ජන ජීවිතය පිළිබඳ කිසිදු සාධාරණ තීන්දුවක් නොගැනීම සම්බන්ධව අපට තිබෙන්නේ මහත් කණගාටුවකි.

සියවස් දෙකක ඉතිහාසයකට හිමිකම් කියන වතු කම්කරු ජනතාව මේ මොහොත වන විට ඉතා අසරණ තත්වයකට පත්ව සිටී. එසේම ඔවුන්ට සේවයට පැමිණෙන ලෙසට වතු සමාගම් බලපෑම් කරමින් ඇත. පෙර පාසල් ද ඇතුළුව සියලූ අධ්‍යාපන ආයතන වසා දමා තිබෙන තත්වයක් තුළ දරුවන් නිවාස තුළ හුදකලාකොට වැඩට යෑම නිසා දරුවන් අනතරුවලට ලක්වීමට තිබෙන අවස්ථාව වැඩිය. වතු කම්කරුවන් සමූහයක් ලෙස අඩු පහසුකම් මධ්‍යයේ පේලි නිවාස තුළ ජීවත්වන නිසාම ඔවුන්ට ලෙඩ රෝගවලට ගොදුරුවීමේ අවදානම වැඩිය. එමෙන්ම කොරෝනා වැනී ඉක්මනින් පැතිරයන වසංගත තත්වයකට මොවුන් ලක්වීමට තිබෙන දැඩි අවදානම කෙසේවත් නොසලකා සිටිය නොහැකිය.

මෙම අවදානම් තත්වය හමුවේ රටේ වෙසෙන විවිධ තෝරාගත් කොටස් වෙනුවෙන් රජය විසින් නොයෙක් වර්ගයේ සහන කීපයක් යෝජනා කර ඇත. එහෙත් වතු කම්කරු ජනතාව සඳහා කිසිදු සහනාධාරයක් රජය විසින් ඉදිරිපත් කර නැත. අමතර කිසිදු ආදායම් මාර්ගයක් නොමැති වතු කම්කරුවන් මේ මොහොතේ ඉතා අසරණ තත්වයකට පත්ව සිටී. එබැවින් රටේ ජාතික ආදායමෙන් වැඩි පංගුව රටට ලබාදෙන වතු කම්කරු ජන ජීවිත අඩපන නොකර වැවිලි කර්මාන්තයේ ඉදිරි දියුණුව සම්බන්ධයෙන් ද සලකා රජයේ බලධාරීන් වගකීම් සහගත පියවරක් ගතයුතුය. වැවිලි සමාගම් හා රජය මගින් සහතික කළ නිසි සනීපාරක්‍ෂක වැඩපිළිවෙලක් නොමැතිව වතු සේවකයන් වැඩට නොකැඳවිය යුතු බව අප ඉල්ලා සිටින අතර වතු කම්කරුවන් වසර ගණනාවක සිට ඉල්ලා සිටි වර්තමාන කැබිනට් මණ්ඩළය විසින් ද අනුමත කළ බව ප‍්‍රසිද්ධ කළ රු 1000/= වැටුප ගෙවීම සඳහා නොපමාව කටයුතු කළ යුතුයැයි අප දැඩිව ප‍්‍රකාශ කර සිටිමු. එමෙන්ම අනෙකුත් ක්‍ෂේත‍්‍රයන් සඳහා ලබාදීමට පොරොන්දු වූ සහනාධාර වතු කම්කරුවන් වෙනුවෙන්ද ලබාදී ඔවුන් මුහුණ දී සිටින ඛේදවාචකයෙන් ගලවාගැනීමට කටයුතු කළ යුතුයැයිද වැවිලි ක්‍ෂේත‍්‍රය ආශි‍්‍රත කඳුකර ජනතාවගේ උන්නතිය වෙනුවෙන් කටයුතු කරන අප ව්‍යාපාරය, වත්මන් රජයෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටින්නෙමු.
ස්තුතියි.
මෙයට,
මුනියණ්ඩි කාලිදාස් කැඳවුම්කරු කඳුකර සහෝදරත්ව ව්‍යාපාරය

නීතිඥ අරුණ ලක්සිරි උණවටුන

1. සංචාරකයන්ගේ පැමිණීම සීමා කිරීම, සංචාරක ප්‍රවර්ධන කටයුතු නතර කිරීම සහ සෑම සංචාරකයෙක්ම ලංකාවට පැමිණීමේදී තමා පිටත්වෙන රටෙන් “නිරෝධායන වූ බවට සහතිකය” ලබාගෙන තිබිය යුතු බවට නියම කිරීම සහ පූරණ සෞඛ්‍ය  පරීක්ෂණයට ලක් කිරීම.

2. රාජ්‍ය තාන්ත්‍රික කටයුතු සදහා පැමිණෙන සියලු දෙනා දින 14ක් නිරෝධායනය සදහා යොමු කිරීමෙන් පසු අදාල රාජ්‍ය තාන්ත්‍රික කටයුතු සදහා අවස්ථාව ලබා දීම හෝ  තමා පිටත්වෙන රටෙන් “නිරෝධායන වූ බවට සහතිකය” ලබාගෙන තිබිය යුතු බවට නියම කිරීම සහ පූරණ සෞඛ්‍ය පරීක්ෂණයට ලක් කිරීම.

3. විදේශ රැකියා සදහා පිටත්ව යන අය පිටත්වීමට නියමිත දිනද ඇතුලුව දින 14ක නිරෝධායනය වූ බවට සහතිකයක් ලබා තිබීම අනිවාර්ය කිරීම.

4. විදේශයන්හී සිට ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට පැමිණෙන සියලු පුරවැසියන් දින 14ක් නිරෝධායනය සදහා යොමු කිරීම.

5.අත්‍යාවශ්‍ය හෝ හදිසි හෝ දින 14ක් ඇතුළත ඉටුකළ යුතු අවශ්‍යතා ඇති අය විදේශවල සිට ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට පැමිණෙන අවස්ථාවල අනුගමනය කළ යුතු විද්‍යාත්මක ආරක්ෂිත විධි අනුගමනය කරන බවට සහතික කර ගැනීම සහ පූරණ සෞඛ්‍ය පරීක්ෂණයට ලක් කිරීම.

6.පෙරදිග වෛද්‍ය ක්‍රම සහ පෙරදිග තාක්ෂණය  පිළිබද පශ්චාත් උපාධි අධ්‍යයන කටයුතු සිදුකිරීමට සියලුම උපාධිධාරීන්ට අවස්ථාව ලබා දීම.

7. කෘෂිකාර්මික කටයුතු අධීක්ෂණය සහ නියාමනය සදහා ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ සෘජු විධානය සහ අධීක්ෂණය යටතේ බුද්ධි අංශයක් ස්ථාපිත කිරීම සහ පූර්ණ කාලීන කෘෂිකාර්මික කටයුතු කිරීමට අදහස් කරන අයට රජයේ ඉඩම් අක්කර 3 බැගින් බෙදා දීම.

නීතිඥ අරුණ ලක්සිරි උණවටුන (2020.03.26)

arunaunawatuna@gmail.com

Senaka Weeraratna

What we do to animals ruthlessly and brutally the Coronavirus is doing likewise to humans, generating so much fear, alarm and anxiety. Do humans deserve pity, when we have no pity for innocent animals, who are eternal victims of our cruelty and inhumanity?   

Senaka Weeraratna

By Rathindra Kuruwita Courtesy The Island

The public should not let their guard down because of a decrease in the detection of COVID-19 patients, Dr. Haritha Aluthge of the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA), warned yesterday.

Dr. Aluthge told The Island that though the official count of COVID-19 patients was 101, the actual number of infected people might be about 500.  The GMOA feared that many people were not able to maintain an appropriate distance when they went out to buy goods, after the curfew was lifted, and that could have led to more infections.
 It is possible that the number will spike, by around April 08. About 19 000 people had come into physical contact with COVID-19 patients, currently in hospital, and these people are being monitored by authorities. If the people follow instructions properly, we can expect a positive outcome within two weeks.”

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) today said that based on the experience from Hubei, China, It can be technically assumed that at present, 550 infected individuals are circulating within the population.”

Issuing a situational report, they said 101 cases were confirmed by today (25) while 32 of them were among those who arrived from abroad and sent to quarantine directly and 69 from the community.

The GMOA said an estimated 550 possible patients would have had a total of 19, 000 contacts.
Nineteen Thousand of our population may have been exposed to this disease condition, and they are now under the observation of Medical, Military and Administrative structures,” the report said.

If movements freely take place, without social distancing, one individual can infect 500 others within 30 days. Within 50 per cent social distancing, one individual can infect 15 others. By 70 per cent social distancing, the ability to infect others is 2.5 per one infected person within 30 days, the situation report added.

The report added: Considering Western nations that have been unsuccessful in carrying out social distancing, it can be assumed that between the period of 25.03.2020 and 07.04. 2020, if social distancing is not carried out, the numbers will face a rapid increase. Thus if the citizens of Sri Lanka follow through with the health advice that is given, we can assume that there will be a favorable outcome in the subsequent two weeks.”(Chaturanga Samarawickrama)

Courtesy worldometers.info

As the number of confirmed coronavirus cases reaches more than 82,000, including nearly 1,200 deaths, the US now has more cases than any other country.

The latest global health data collected by Johns Hopkins University shows the US eclipsing hard-hit countries Italy and China as the nation struggles with a consistent response after delayed efforts to take the mounting Covid-19 crisis seriously.

On Thursday, Margaret Harris with the World Health Organization warned that the US was likely to become the world’s viral epicentre as the number of cases escalated in several states, including New York, which spiked to more than 33,000 cases.  

Courtesy Adaderana

Army officer Sunil Ratnayake who was on the death row over alleged murder has been released of his sentence.

The court convicted Sergeant Ratnayake and he was to be hanged for the murder of 8 civilians in December 2000.

Along with Ratnayake, 4 others had been charged with the same offense; however, they were acquitted by the court for lack of sufficient evidence.

However, there was a stir in the social media regarding the death sentence given to the army sergeant.

Courtesy Adaderana

As per the powers vested in the President under the Constitution, the responsibility to ensure that the civilian life moves on without any hindrance has been bestowed with the Presidential Task Force established to combat COVID–19 in Sri Lanka.

Special Representative of the President Basil Rajapaksa has been appointed as the Chairman of the Task Force while Additional Secretary to Prime Minister Anton Perera serves as the Secretary.

The membership of the Task Force is 40 including Provincial Governors, several Secretaries to Ministries, Commanders of Tri-Forces, security chiefs including Acting Inspector General of Police, Chairmen of several Departments, Corporations and Authorities and District and Divisional Secretaries.
 
The President had declared powers and functions of the Task Force through a special gazette notification, stated President’s Media Division.

The Task Force should carry out its responsibilities covering every district in the country while giving priority to districts of Colombo, Kalutara, Gampaha, Puttalam, Jaffna, Mannar, Kilinochchi, Vavuniya and Mullaitivu which have been identified as facing a greater risk.

Provision of required facilities to farmers for the production of rice, grams, vegetables, fish, dairy and egg and crops including tea, cinnamon, and pepper is one of the main tasks. The Task Force should maintain a proper coordination mechanism with Ports, Customs, corporate banking sector, and other State regulatory entities to create a conducive environment to import essential dry food items and medicine and to export goods such as tea and sanitary apparel and implement decisions.

The Task Force will ensure supply food items purchased from producers directly to the consumers while presenting operational reports to the President.

All Government Officers and other relevant persons who may be requested to extend assistance to deliver services shall comply with the instructions in respect of such tasks. The President has instructed government officials and others through circulars that they should provide all necessary assistance and information. The Task Force is also required to report to the President regarding all incidents related to delays or omissions in the discharge of duties and responsibilities by an assigned officer.

Some of the other tasks assigned to the Task Force are,

• Directing and providing facilities to the Department of Agriculture and to the Department of Agrarian Services to provide seeds, plants, fertilizer and equipment required for farming activities.
• Encourage seed farming, use of organic fertilizers and home gardening as well as to grant loans to farmers through Bank of Ceylon, People’s Bank, Regional Development Banks, and Samurdhi Bank branches.
• Particular attention should be given to women, low-income families and vulnerable persons in carrying out the related tasks.

The distribution of rice, vegetables, and products to the people of all districts should be streamlined to strengthen the farmer and the local economy. Organizing of Co-operatives, Sathosa, Economic Centers, Cargills, Keells, Arpico, and Laugfs business networks. 

Helping farmers for farming and plantation activities the Task Force is empowered to continually sustain the process that required for maintaining the day-to-day life of the community, including the distribution of medicines and the opening of commercial banks.

Bergamo’s streets are empty as it deals with a devastating number of coronavirus-related deaths – and residents have a warning for others.

Courtesy Sky News

President Trump has admitted that New York City is “by far our biggest problem” – the city is now the epicentre of the outbreak in the US. New York State alone has accounted for more than 30,000 cases and close to 300 deaths, most of them in New York City.

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Meant to prevent crowding in markets. Delivery will take place even during curfew

Colombo, March 25 (newsin.asia): In order to prevent uncontrolled gathering of people at market places amidst effort to combat COVID – 19, a special mechanism has been established by the govenment of Sri Lanka to deliver essential food items to homes.

This will be implemented through a local system in collaboration with Cooperative Societies and super market chains, Head of the Presidential Task on Continuous Supply, Operation and Coordination of Services that are essential to maintain the day to day life in the battle against COVID- 19, Basil Rajapaksa said.

The entire process should be in line with the corona control initiatives carried out by the health sector. It is imperative to maintain the day to day life of the public. Steps have been taken to distribute food items while protecting domestic farmers and the national economy.

Mr. Basil Rajapaksa made these observations during a meeting held today (25) at the Presidential Secretariat with all District Secretaries, Heads of banks and State and private entities tasked with the supply of essential food items.

There is no shortage of rice, coconut, vegetables, eggs and chicken. Mr. Rajapaksa pointed out the possibility of distributing these items through a combined effort between Cooperative outlets and super markets after purchasing from domestic farmers. These items can be packed according to the need. Assistance of the Center for Disaster Management will be obtained for this operation.

A decision was taken to deliver medicines to the homes of regular patients who have registered at hospitals with the support of Divisional Secretaries, Public Health Officers and the security forces.

It was also discussed to implement a system to distribute medicines thorough few locally selected pharmacies to patients who purchase medicines from private pharmacies.

Heads of the banks were also advised to take action to keep the commercial banks open to facilitate trade and other essential activities.

Mr. Basil Rajapaksa requested the authorities to implement a programme to supply domestic gas at consumer’s doorstep responding to the telephone orders.

The objective of the entire project is to prevent the public from gathering at market places so that the health sector’s efforts to combat the coronavirus could be a success.

Divisional Secretaries, Grama Seva Niladharis, Agricultural Research Officers and Samurdhi Development Officers will assist this distribution process. At present, several countries have completely stopped the import and export activities.

It was discussed at length about building a stable production economy in the country while paying greater attention to the prevailing situation.

It was decided to facilitate the cultivation and fisheries activities without any interruption.

The relevant officials were advised to encourage the farmers to cultivate vegetables as well as paddy, maize, ulundu, green gram, cowpea and kurakkan.

Ministers Chamal Rajapaksa, Bandula Gunawardena and Douglas Devananda, Secretary to the President, Dr. P.B. Jayasundara, Secretary to the Treasury, Mr. Attygalle and Secretary, Defence, Major General Kamal Gunaratne participated in this discussion.

Courtesy Adaderana

Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi says that as of 4.30 p.m. today (25), there have been no new Coronavirus positive patients reported in the country within the day.

The minister confirmed this at the National Operation Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak.

Accordingly the total number of confirmed cases of Coronavirus in the country as of yesterday is 102, she further said. 

Courtesy Adaderana

he Department of Co-operative Development implemented the door-to-door dry rations sale program “Wait for Us, Stay at Home” in the Western Province today.

Under this program, bags containing dry rations worth Rs 500 and Rs 1000 were provided to the public for purchase. 

A system has also been introduced to deliver a bag of goods as requested by a telephone call, the Government Information Department said.

Plans have been made to further strengthen the program through Divisional Secretaries and Grama Niladhari, the release said.

Courtesy Adaderana

The President’s Media Division has announced the updated scheduled with the times for the lifting and re-imposition of the curfew currently in effect across the island.

The President’s Media Division has announced the updated scheduled with the times for the lifting and re-imposition of the curfew currently in effect across the island.

The on-going island-wide curfew will be lifted and re-imposed as follows:

1. The curfew currently in force in Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara districts will continue until further notice.

2. The curfew currently in force in Puttalam, Vavuniya, Mannar, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu and Jaffna districts will be lifted at 6.00 a.m. on Friday 27th March and will be re-imposed at 12 noon on the same day.

3. The curfew currently in force in other districts will be lifted at 6.00 a.m. on Thursday 26th (tomorrow) and will be re-imposed at 12 noon on the same day.

Movement from one district to another has been completely banned. Furthermore, taking foreign tourists from place to place is completely prohibited. 

People who engaged in agricultural activities and people engaged in small-scale tea production as well as export crops are allowed to carry out their usual activities in any district during the curfew hours. 

Transportation of media personnel and essential items including rice and vegetable is also permitted.

Airports and Ports services will also continue.

The subject Minister in charge of Agriculture and Trade should effectively coordinate these activities, the Government has directed.

Courtesy Hiru News

The President’s Media Division (PMD) stated the following with regard to the enforcement of curfew and the times that curfew will be relaxed.

The Curfew currently enforced in Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara districts will continue until further notice.

The existing curfew in Puttalam, Vavuniya, Mannar, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu and Jaffna districts will be lifted at 6.00 am on Friday, 27 March and will be reinforced at 12 noon on the same day.

The curfew currently in force in all other districts will be lifted tomorrow, Thursday 26th at 6.00 am and will be reinforced at 12 noon on the same day.

Inter District travel – from one district to another has been completely banned.

Meanwhile, the President’s Media Division announced that taking foreigners from place to place will be strictly prohibited during this period.

PMD also stated that people from any district who are engaged in agricultural activities, tea small holders engaged in production as well as those who are engaged in export crops are allowed to carry out their relevant activities during the curfew period.

Transportation for media personnel and essential commodities including rice and vegetable will also be permitted during the curfew period.

Approval has been provided to maintain the Airport services for passengers and to continue port services.<br /><br />The notice has directed the subject Minister in charge of Agriculture and Trade to effectively coordinate these activities,

Courtesy Hiru News

The President has instructed the heads of commercial banks to keep all the banks open to facilitate trade and other essential transactions

How to enter the present moment? These are 8 ways! Eckhart Tolle – The Power Of Now (audiobook): https://amzn.to/31IrMWi (affiliate link)

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS

It is reported that the world economy has commenced to unexpected backward as a result of the corona outbreak and many leaders have commented that this experience could be regarded as the main incident after a century of economic history.  The major impact would be unemployment and lower-income for families. It will impact the aggregate demand in all countries and the significant consequence will be declining the purchasing power of people forcing to restrict spending. It also encourages us to assume that the prices of certain goods and services might get a down turning trend as the demand for goods and services might reduce due to less money in hand. In this situation, the economic impact on companies is vital because it will reduce government tax revenue (combined impact of lower profit and unemployment) thereby reducing the capacity of governments to spending on welfare and investments.

Many developed countries have introduced incentive packages for individuals and businesses. Many countries in the world concern about the impact on small businesses as a result of social distancing which brings into being bad effects on the fashion industry, hospitality, tourism, and many other related business areas.  Some analysts indicate that incentive packages are not working as expected and others indicated that incentives are not enough to revive the economy. Many countries have problems with how to give incentives continuously when tax revenue has a down turning trend and the only way to governments borrowing for the purpose and it may adversely impact the medium term to many countries.  Some countries have limits to borrow.  Australia originally introduced A$ 17.0 billion package and later it has increased to $ 100 billion and economists have predicted that unemployment would rise to 7% at the end of this year, which is a similar situation in 2008. Although developed nations introduced large incentives (USA $ 1.7 trillion) Sri Lanka has no capacity for such a $ billion incentives and the country has limits to borrow. However, the presidential task force has introduced maximum possible reliefs and incentives and controls.

After the cold war, many developed countries shifted from manufacturing base to services and manufacturing industries were absorbed by China and other Asian countries. Corona epidemic badly hit the Chinese economy for a strong slowdown and restricted growth possibilities and it will be a blow to developed and developing countries.  Since the early 1990s, Sri Lanka’s economy also attracted service businesses especially tourism and hospitality, education and training, information technology, construction services, medical and dental services, fashion and many other services and they became areas of employment for the labor force.  Besides, employment overseas also played a considerable contribution to the country, but the corona crisis seems to limit foreign employment opportunities in short and medium terms. Many need to change the field of employment departing from the currently engage in, for example, I had to change my career field from banking and finance to education and training after a deep recession in the early 1990s and similar experience would become of the end of the current crisis.

According to Reuter report Mr. Chen Ulu, Deputy Governor of Peoples’ Bank of China stated that strengthening international cooperation regarding public health policies, trade policies, fiscal and monetary policies are vital policy actions to face international economic backwardness and Sri Lanka is not immune to this situation and it must go along with international cooperation and policy actions.

It is recorded that more than one million population of Sri Lanka are living exile and they send $ billions to the country supporting foreign exchange earnings and the government of Sri Lanka should have multiple strategies to expand foreign exchange reserves.  The Current backward economic environment needs rational thinking intending to maintaining a reasonable level of stability and providing employment opportunities for increasing the labor force. I believe that economic policymakers need to consider the following areas of rational actions despite politically motivating opposition to some rational policy actions.

• Policy correction process must be continued directing lower spending for public enterprises and allowing private investments of Sri Lankan citizens without selling government assets to foreigners are, vital actions to strengthen the economy of Sri Lanka.  The country needs to maintain a safety net for the poor and some areas of spending must be limited widely using a user-pay system.  Many Sri Lankans living in the country and overseas can contribute to capital management of public enterprises and 30% of capital contribution from Sri Lankan will be supported to innovations, effective and efficient management, research and development and expanding market base of public enterprises.
• Implementation of productivity enhancement program in the public and private sectors. The attitude of people is normally negative and selfish.  They like to get payments without contributing to the workplace.  They like more holidays and enjoyment.  Many people ready to work hard when they go to work overseas but they are not ready to work similar way in the country.  This situation needs to change and productivity must be the base of payment.  
• Sri Lanka needs improvement in savings.  There is a considerable gap between savings and investment.  The current price level and inflation don’t permit to massively promote individuals from the salary and wages so superannuation systems should be the strong method of saving.  The superannuation management should be independent of the Central Bank, which is the regulatory authority of the financial system of the country.  The best option is to establish a sperate organization to manage super funds in the country combining the government pension, individual pension funds, EPF, ETF, and others.  This organization can provide at least 10000 employment opportunities.
• Sri Lanka imports much agricultural produce such as rice, onion and many others. All these agricultural imports must stop and promoting import substitutions-all possible items should produce domestically.  In this way, Sri Lanka can save a large volume of foreign exchange.
• It is recorded that the monetary unit of the country is badly depreciating and this situation has been influenced by several factors such as lower level of foreign reserves, lower level of product and services export, budget deficit, debt services, and many other factors. To improve the export economy Sri Lanka needs assistance from China and India.  China can help to improve product quality and there are many strategies such as exporting Sri Lanka products through China and India.  In China and India, many products could be improved and such policy action would help to become a nation with export power and strong export revenue flow.
• Sri Lanka needs to consider and investigate possibilities of currency swap agreement with China and India for the US $ 50 billion which keeps as foreign reserves to settle agreements from exports to both countries.  This quite difficult negotiation and foreign policy-related matters.  Sri Lanka needs supports from China and India both and such diplomatic stewardship would be useful to the entire Asian region. Taiwan is equivalent to Sri Lanka in population and land area but it has more than the US $ 500 billion foreign reserves.  If Sri Lanka can build theUS $ 50 billion reserves within the next five years, there is no doubt that the foreign value of Sri Lanka Rupee radically increases and many international trade advantages could be gained.
• Sri Lanka needs to maintain market economic policies with strong disciplines. I will generate more jobs and income to disadvantage people. This will support to reduce welfare payments and eliminate disparities in economic status.
• As Sri Lanka is a small island it is easy to maintain a balanced growth, however, during the past 40 years, economic growth networked to Colombo and many skilled people pushed to go overseas for working than using knowledge and skills of them for the use of the country.  The government spending on education and training is gained by other countries giving small jobs and this situation could be changed by giving good value to Sri Lanka Rupee.  Before 1970, Sri Lanka’s monetary unit was comparatively strong and very fewer people looked for job opportunities in overseas and now all skilled people look jobs overseas.  This could change by improving the value of Sri Lanka rupee.

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane    

• Sri Lanka is the only country in the world that was visited by the Buddha on three different occasions. During these visits, the Buddha set foot on 16 different places within the country which are still venerated as sacred sites (for details see Deepawamsa written in the 3-4^th century CE).

• Sri Lanka and Thailand are the countries with the largest collection of relics of the Buddha. The most venerated among these relics are The Tooth relic, the right collar bone and the Alms Bowl of the Buddha are enshrined in Sri Lanka. All stupas found across the island contain relics of the Buddha.

• Sri Lanka’s Sangha Sasana or the organization of the ordained Buddhist community is the world’s oldest institution, which is unique in being still active and operational in Sri Lanka for over 2250 years.

• The Sangha Sasana has survived in Sri Lanka for a continuous period that is longer than all dynasties of Chinese emperors, and much longer than the Roman and British Empires. It is noteworthy that it has survived without armies and weapons, but merely through the power of virtue and wisdom.

• The oldest recorded tree in the world, the Sri Maha Bodhi, is in Sri Lanka. It is the southern branch from the historical Sri Maha Bodhi at Buddha Gaya in India under which Gotama Buddha attained Enlightenment. It was planted in 288 BCE and is the oldest living human-planted tree in the world with a known planting date. It is respected by Buddhists all over the world.

• World’s oldest Buddhist, architecture, sculpture, monuments, dagabas, shrines and monasteries are found in Sri Lanka.

• World’s oldest Buddhist paintings, literature including poetry are found in Sri Lanka.

• Remains of world’s oldest royal palaces and landscaped gardens are found in Sigiriya, Sri Lanka.   

• There is widespread evidence that Sri Lanka’s ancient Sinhala Buddhist builders and planners were quite familiar with the principles of building construction or structural engineering, and some of their structures have lasted for over 1600 years.

• The Lovamahapaya (Brazen Palace) was the world’s oldest skyscraper, 145 feet high with nine stories and the building was about 400 feet in length. It took six years for the construction and accommodated about 1000 monks. Ruins of this building are found in Anuradhapura. 

• The largest known brick structures of the world are the ancient Buddhist stupas or dagabas of Sri Lanka, prominent among them being Jetavanaramaya, Abayagiriya, Ruvanweliseya, and Tissamaharamaya. The Jetavanarama Stupa is about 400 feet high and is the largest brick structure in the world.

• The high degree of sophistication in engineering technology and skills in surveying are well reflected in Sri Lanka’s ancient Buddhist structures and monuments. These skills were transferred to Buddhist architecture, sculpture, and other works of art.  Brickmaking, plasters for reinforcing bricks and rocks used in buildings and making of huge statues, both indoor and outdoor, are of special significance.

• Engineering technology of the ancient irrigation system of the island is of special significance. The vast man-made reservoirs and irrigation systems that were developed by the nation’s Buddhist royalty in the past, which even today defy engineering interpretation. The earthen and stone dams and reservoir systems, the canal network and related water control and management structures and techniques display the skills of ancient Sinhala people. The canal system is characterized by minimum siltation. The Jayaganga is 54 miles long and its first 17 miles gradient is ONE inch per mile. Our ancient irrigation engineers, more than 2100 years ago, were the first inventors of both, the hydraulic surge chamber and the valve tower and to incorporate both principles in the same structure called the “bisokotuva”

• Sustainable agriculture based on irrigation technology operational even today, some reservoirs being more than 2000 years old. Adoption of environmentally friendly and compatible Water and Watershed management systems where the protection of forest land, soil and water resources were given high priority, thereby promoting environmental protection and biodiversity.

• The brilliant surveying tradition of the ancient Sinhala people is well reflected in the laying of the island’s sophisticated irrigation system and related agricultural land management system. A sound understanding of the topography, geology and structure of the land was necessary to plan and implement such sustainable water conservation and transfer systems and to identify where reservoirs to be located and associated irrigated lands to be developed.

• Mathematics and Astronomy were highly developed in ancient Sri Lanka. The ‘Sandesha kavya’ (poetry) written in the 15^th century refer to the teaching of Mathematics in Sri Lanka. Geometry would have been a highly developed science in the past, because all the massive and complex structures designed and built in the past had to utilize principles of geometry.

• The sophistication of ancient City Planning is well evident in ancient cities of Anuradhapura, Sigiriya and Polonnaruwa in particular. It includes an amazing system of well laid out buildings and road network bridges, parks etc. Sigiriya had a system of underground canals.

• A wealth of information on the country’s past scientific and technological history lies hidden in the numerous ancient ‘ola’ palm-leaf manuscripts stored in Buddhist shrines across the country, and in the National Archives and Museums.         

• Special types of plasters were developed and used on rock and on brick wall surfaces to effect paintings, ensuring their durability.  Some paintings found on such ancient plasters are 1500 to over 2000 years old. Notably, the Hindagala, rock surface paintings are over 2000 years old, and those of Sigiriya are more than 1500 years. Pigments used in paintings are based on natural products and are used on varied surfaces – walls, ceilings, statues, wooden, cloth, earthenware.
• Ancient Chinese reports refer to Sinhala ships”. The biggest ships that called at Chinese Ports during 4^th-5^th centuries were from Sri Lanka. This is evidence of the marine engineering skills of the ancient Sinhala people. Sinhala ships crossed the ocean to Java – as Indonesia was known at that time. The present Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Maldives islands, and a good part of India were predominantly Buddhist in ancient times, and there were close interactions and travel between these countries. Sri Lanka was the ideal stop-over of the Ancient Sea farers sailing in the Indian Ocean to East Asia and Pacific. The ancient port of Mantota is reputed to have been an important port of call between China and Rome.
• There was remarkable achievement in metal work industry – there were iron implements during the 4^th and 5 century BCE. The Tara statue and the Avaloketheesvara statue of Sri Lanka exhibited in several European, British, and American museums are considered among the best metal works of the past – outstanding aesthetically.

• Sri Lanka’s traditional pottery, ivory works, brass works, lacquer work have a long history of development in the island and are popular household items even at present.

• Medical Science – Ayurveda was highly developed in Sri Lanka in the past. King Buddhadasa was a famous Ayurveda physician. Many books on diverse aspects and issues pertaining to medical science and health were written in Sri Lanka, in Sinhala, Sanskrit and Pali languages. Among books compiled by King Buddhadasa on medicine is the famous Saarartha Sangrahaya”. 

• Sri Lanka is the first country in the world to have established a dedicated hospital in Mihintale, in the 3rd century BCE. There were several other hospitals built in other ancient cities. The ruins of the hospitals in Mihintale and Polonnaruwa are still well evident. Several surgical instruments were discovered in the ancient Polonnaruwa hospital premises.

• There were great physicians and surgeons in the past including Veterinary surgeons and animal hospitals. There is reference to elephants being treated for various health ailments. The world’s first recorded animal hospital was at Mihintale, established by King Devanampiyatissa in the 3rd century BCE

• The world’s first recorded wildlife sanctuary was at Mihintale, established in the 3^rd century BCE, by the Sinhala Buddhist king Devanampiyatissa.  

• Popular traditional food ingredients of Sri Lanka, especially the combination of spices popularly used in processing food namely ‘thunapaha’ including turmeric, ginger, garlic, curry leaf, cinnamon, coconut milk are among the recommended healthy nutritional items of contemporary times across the world.   

• Sinhala language and literature originated in Sri Lanka. From historical times, the Sinhala language has been the defining element of the nation’s culture.  Sinhala is one of the world’s oldest living languages.  There have been a wide range of languages in the world, particularly in Asia which lived and died without leaving evidence of their existence, because they were never written down. This is not the case with the Sinhala language.

• The Sinhala language grew out of Indo-Aryan dialects and exists only in Sri Lanka and has its own distinguished literary tradition. Overwhelming majority of people of Sri Lanka are distinguished by their language – Sinhala, which even today has a strong unifying effect in our motherland helping to reinforce the solidarity of our people as a unique cultural entity in the world. Almost all place names of the country from historic times, are in the Sinhala language – in the North, South, East, West and Central regions.

• There is a rich tradition of Sinhala Literature  – prose , novels, poetry, lyrics, meaningful names, Sinhala Songs, Sinhala Films and Sinhala jokes, Sinhala ‘baila’ songs. Sinhala Dances, Sinhala Drama, Sinhala motifs, designs, decorations, costumes, jewellery, sculpture,  architecture, handicrafts, clothing, food and drinks. 

RECORED HISTORY OF SRI LANKA

A good part of the long history of the island, has been recorded in an unbroken continuous manner. This written history goes back to over 2500 years and is described chronologically, in detail, in the ancient chronicles namely, Deepavansa (3^rd-4^th century CE), Mahavamsa (6^th century CE), Chulavamsa, besides the Rajavaliya, Pujavaliya, Dhatuvamsaya, Elu-Attanagaluvamsaya, Elu-Bodhivamsaya, Maha Bodhivamsaya,  Thupavamsaya, Daladavamsaya and Viharavamsaya. This written history is supported by archaeological evidence, and reports of foreign travelers of ancient times. Among archaeological evidence substantiating recorded historic information are rock inscriptions.  The written history of Sri Lanka is regarded as the second-most remarkable recorded history in existence of an ancient and cultured civilization. It is second only to the records maintained by the Shang dynasty of Chinese emperors. The historical chronicles narrate in detail the history of the country since the arrival of Buddhism in 237 BCE or 3rd century BCE or about 2246 years ago.

The accuracy of this historical record of ancient Sri Lanka is generally accepted by means of other numerous local and Indian edicts such as the  rock edicts of Indian Emperor Asoka and records of the Fa Hien the Chinese pilgrim monk, Roman historian Pliny and several others who have already been referred to. Also, by means of inscriptions, historical works, and literary works as well as by way of ruins, renovated historical and Buddhist monuments, ancient yet sophisticated irrigation networks, which extend the lifeline to date.  

HISTORIC MOTHERLAND OF THE SINHALA PEOPLE

Compared to the other 196 countries of the world, Sri Lanka, the motherland of the Sihala or Sinhala people, is small, in terms of area (65,610 sq. km) and population (21 million).  Sinhala is the ethnic group native to Sri Lanka, forming the mainstream or the dominant indigenous community of the island for more than 2500 years. In fact, Sri Lanka is the only national sovereign motherland of the Sinhala people. Their culture, way of life and their Sinhala language originated and developed in Sri Lanka. Sovereign national rights of Sri Lanka rests with the Sinhala people who form the original dominant community of this country.

The national culture of Sri Lanka is the Sinhala Buddhist culture, where Buddhist norms and principles and the Sinhala language form the foundations. With the arrival and spread of Buddhism in the island, there came an era of unsurpassed attainments and achievements.The island’s civilization achieved an individuality and identity that distinguished it from its neighbors. Sri Lanka’s identity is based on the Sinhala Buddhist culture and the Sinhala language which is the defining element of Sinhala culture. Despite foreign invasions, threats and various forms of challenges and atrocities, Buddhist culture has remained intact in the island, unlike the case with many ancient cultures in most other countries in the world.  Throughout most of its history, Sinhala kings and Buddhist institution of monks, played a major role in the development and maintenance of Buddhist culture and institutions in the island. The world recognition of the greatness of this unique Sinhala Buddhist culture is reflected by the UNESCO designating ancient sites, including the ancient royal capitals of the Sinhala people such – Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Mahanuwara (Kandy), Sigiriya and Dambulla as World Heritage Sites.

There is only one nation in this island of Sri Lanka or Sinhale. A ‘Nation’ is a self-identifying group of people who share a common history, a common language, a common culture and most importantly a homeland. In other words, a nation is the most persistent alliance or organization of three main social components -people-culture- territory. Culture can be defined as the system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that the members of society use to cope with their world and with one another, and that are transmitted from generation to generation through learning.  In a broader sense, a subculture is any group within a larger complex culture who has interests that vary from those of the mainstream culture. In a more specific sense, it is a group with a distinct style and identity. Even though it is obvious that there are large number of sub-cultures within any given national culture, People live and think in ways that form finite patterns that can be mutually constructed through a constant process of social interaction. The country’s predominant culture is Sinhala Buddhist. Over the centuries, both Hindus and Buddhists have co-existed well despite occasional politically motivated power struggles. One should not be confusing the issue of citizens’ rights with that of a nation’s identity.

VICTORY OVER TAMIL TERRORISM

The historic victory over Tamil terrorism, with the elimination on 16 May 2009, of  Prabakaran, the ruthless terrorist leader, led to a spontaneous elated reaction on the part of all patriotic citizens of Sri Lanka. There was countrywide lighting of firecrackers and ringing of temple bells, and roadside gatherings of people serving and sharing traditional ‘kiribath’ in jubilation of the victory over terrorism and the dawn of peace in the country after nearly thirty years of terror. It was a spontaneous expression of the overflowing thrill, ecstasy and gratitude of ordinary people who were overwhelmed by this great victory over terrorism, a menace that plagued Sri Lanka for some three decades. Roadside banners and posters highlighted pictures of our gallant Army, Navy, Air Force, Civil Defence, Police and STF personnel, especially of those heroic ones who sacrificed their lives, fighting to save our nation from Tamil terrorists so that peace and stability would be restored in the country. They were expressions of the overflowing appreciation, joy and gratitude of our people towards the saviors of the nation – our heroic sons and daughters of the nation’s military and security forces.

Two weeks after the fall of Prabakaran, on June 03 009, our Nation celebrated on a formal basis, in a glorious manner, at the Galle Face grounds, our nation’s Victory over racist Tamil Terrorism,  the grandeur of which was perhaps never witnessed in our land in its living memory. Here, then President of the country in his speech said that … this great and glorious victory was achieved because of the younger generation …. Young men and women from the four corners of Sri Lanka joined the Security Forces to free their Motherland. Some mothers and fathers gave their children to the Armed Forces and the police. When the eldest child had already sacrificed his life for the country, they gave more children to the Armed Forces. He said, if anyone were to ask me what the secret of the victory is, I would extend my hands and show our beloved people, who include these mothers, fathers, wives who gave their closest and dearest for this battle. Our entire nation owes an immense debt of gratitude to these mothers, fathers and wives. They sacrificed their children and loved ones for the nation, to save the lives of others. In order to defeat racist terrorism, the people of the country have a mature knowledge of the threat before them. The fortune of a nation lies is such knowledge and maturity…”

VIOLATION OF NATIONAL INTERESTS                                                                                      

Patriotic Sri Lankans will not tolerate any person or community whilst living in this Sinhala Buddhist Nation and considering it their home, deliberately misusing such privilege by scheming and adopting violent and extreme actions or contributing to such actions violating the sovereignty, dignity, and territorial integrity of the Sinhala Nation. This includes the ridiculously false and unfounded claims made by Tamil and Muslim leaders in pursuit of carving out ethnic or religious enclaves within the Sinhala Nation, merely because some of them had lived in some specific places in the country for extended periods of time. Persons with such self-serving objectives and attitudes are traitors of the Nation and should be tolerated under any circumstances. There is no place in the Hela Nation for such traitors, double crossers, renegades, turncoats, collaborators of enemies, criminals and terrorists, conspirators, connivers, schemers and emissaries, spies, secret agents, undercover agents, and double agents of the enemies of the Sinhala Nation. The nation’s patriotic forces, including Buddhist monks who have from historic times been in the forefront in promoting and protecting the Sinhala Buddhist culture of the island will not tolerate any disintegration of the national sovereignty, the cultural integrity, and the long established territorial integrity of the country. 

Genuine and practicing Buddhists of our country, or in general, those who strictly follow the Five Precepts, should be more actively involved in politics either directly or indirectly. Most of the ills of our nation’s political life could be attributed to the absence or withdrawal of genuine Buddhists from the nation’s political arena and the domain of the media where they could be quite influential in bringing about necessary changes in public opinion of issues that are of national importance. Genuine Buddhists have a duty by the nation, which is founded on Buddhist principles, to be fully involved and participating in organizations working for the welfare of the nation. This is particularly relevant today because our nation is severely threatened at present by diverse negative forces both local and foreign. It is the realistic Buddhist perspective to public life and decision-making, that is most needed today, especially in the country’s political domain. We need well educated, upright and patriotic politicians and professionals with unselfish and mindful interest in the welfare of the country to get to the forefront today.

The nation is fortunate to have a leader with such qualities and foresight, in her popularly elected new President of the country, but he needs an equally sound support base to  bring about needed positive changes in public life which at present is increasingly infected with dishonesty, crime, and corruption. The impact and influence of patriotic and dedicated  politicians and professionals can make a big difference. They can help to generate a wholesome political culture, characterized by Buddhist approaches and attitudes and a truly Buddhist atmosphere conducive to the development of a healthy political climate in the nation, so that all nationals will benefit irrespective of their diverse origins and cultural-religious inclinations. It is time that our practicing Buddhists entered the public arena in various influential capacities. Buddhism has always been engaged in various socio-political contexts. The idea of interdependence is widely associated with Buddhism. Engaging in the lives of others through compassion, sacrifice and service is the worthy spiritual path that the contemporary world needs to observe. Buddhists should organize themselves or join legitimate organizations to become more socially engaged. They need to be better able to identify and understand social hardships, misery, and perils in their country, and do something tangible to relieve them.

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane                                                         

by Tyler Durden Courtesy zerohedge.com

Authored by Ben Norton via TheGrayZone.com,

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has threatened the family members of International Criminal Court staff, vowing that Washington will take punitive action against them if the court tries American soldiers for war crimes.

Pompeo also announced an intensification of unilateral US sanctions on Iran and Syria, which are illegal under international law, and which are undermining the countries’ attempts to contain the coronavirus pandemic.

In March 2019, the Pompeo State Department threatened to revoke or deny visas to any International Criminal Court (ICC) personnel investigating crimes committed by American forces.

A year later, on March 5, 2020, the ICC took a defiant step forward, officially approving an investigation into allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the US military and CIA in Afghanistan.

Pompeo responded by angrily condemning the court and its proceedings. His broadside was an apparent attempt at discrediting the institution, which the US government is not a party to.

In a subsequent State Department press briefing on March 17, Pompeo launched another tirade against the ICC, belittling it as a so-called court,” a nakedly political body,” and an embarrassment.” Pompeo, who previously served as director of the CIA, took the denunciations a step further, threatening the family members of ICC staff.

We want to identify those responsible for this partisan investigation and their family members who may want to travel to the United States or engage in activity that’s inconsistent with making sure we protect Americans,” Pompeo said, according to the US State Department’s official transcript.

Sarah Leah Whitson, the managing director for research and policy at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, drew attention to the shocking attack” on Twitter. This isn’t just unlawful collective punishment against family members; it’s not just a disturbing attack on staff of a judiciary — where the US has voted to refer other nations for prosecution; it’s abuse of federal authority to use sanctions against actual wrongdoers,” said Whitson, who previously directed the Middle East and North Africa division at Human Rights Watch.

Whitson called on Democratic presidential candidates Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders to condemn this US State Department assault on the staff and FAMILIES of ICC – abuse of sanctions authority in flagrant attack on judicial independence, unlawful collective punishment.”

This blatant US threat against the family members of International Criminal Court prosecutors is part of a longer historical pattern of Washington attacking multilateral institutions.

At the beginning of the George W. Bush administration’s so-called war on terror, in 2002, the US Congress passed a bill called the American Service-Members’ Protection Act — more commonly known as the Hague Invasion Act.”

This unprecedented piece of legislation, which has no precedent anywhere else in the world, declares that the US government unilaterally grants itself the right to militarily invade the Hague if a citizen of the United States or any allied country is tried at the court. Nor are Secretary of State Pompeo’s threats the first time US government officials have targeted the family members of international organizations.

José Bustani, the former director of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), said hardline neoconservative John Bolton, a former under secretary of state for George W. Bush and national security adviser for Donald Trump, threatened him and his family when Bustani negotiated with the Iraqi government to allow in OPCW weapons inspectors.

You have 24 hours to leave the organization, and if you don’t comply with this decision by Washington, we have ways to retaliate against you,” Bolton reportedly told Bustani, according to his recollection.We know where your kids live. You have two sons in New York.”ICC, image via Reuters

Denigrating the Iranian government as terrorists” in his State Department press briefing, Mike Pompeo declared new sanctions on the social security investment company of Iran’s military, along with five Iranian nuclear scientists.

Moreover, Pompeo announced State Department sanctions on nine more entities, in South Africa, Hong Kong, and China, for doing business with Iran.

He also unveiled new sanctions on Syria’s minister of defense, citing the Syrian army’s battle to retake Idlib, the last remaining insurgent-held territory in the country, which is occupied by a rebranded al-Qaeda affiliate and other extremist Salafi-jihadists, backed by NATO member Turkey.

US sanctions on Iran have devastated the country’s health infrastructure, greatly exacerbating the coronavirus pandemic. A new study by researchers at the Sharif University of Technology in Tehran warned that millions of people could die due to Covid-19 — which Pompeo repeatedly referred to as the Wuhan virus” in his press briefing.

An article by German state broadcaster DW concisely explained how US sanctions have set the stage for mass death in Iran: Iran’s government applied for a $5 billion (€4.6 billion) loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to fight the epidemic — the first time it has asked the IMF for assistance in over 50 years. Yet, even if it gets the loan, the administration won’t be able to shop for much-needed medical supplies: US sanctions make the banking transactions required to secure even medical supplies and humanitarian goods virtually impossible.”

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, March 24 (newsin.asia) — Sri Lankan authorities, on Tuesday declared three districts including capital Colombo as ‘high risk’ areas due to the rapid spread of COVID-19 and imposed an indefinite curfew there, a statement from the President’s Office said.

As a result of the curfew, the statement said essential items including medicines will be delivered to people’s doorsteps as the public had been banned from leaving their homes until further notice.

The decision was reached after large crowds gathered at supermarkets and grocery shops earlier Tuesday in Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara in the outskirts of the capital and Puttalam in the north central province, when a curfew was lifted for 6 hours for people to re-stock on essential items.

Mandatory rules of maintaining a one meter distance was not maintained which led to Health Officials proposing essential items to be delivered.Large crowds in shops had been observed after curfew was lifted this morning in three districts. Health officials fear that this in turn could lead to a wider and faster spread of the virus,” the statement from the President’s Office said.

Therefore, the government has directed wholesale dealers to deliver essential consumer goods to the doorstep of each household until the situation is brought under control,” the statement added.

The President’s Office said to ensure the smooth operation of delivering essential consumer goods to each household, a special task force had been established. Vehicles used for delivery of these goods will be permitted on the roads during the curfew period.Sri Lanka has so far identified 100 COVID-19 positive patients while over 200 are under observation in the designated hospitals across the country.

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Some people hope that outbreaks of the new coronavirus will wane as temperatures rise, but pandemics often don’t behave in the same way as seasonal outbreaks.

March 24 (BBC) – Many infectious diseases wax and wane with the seasons. Flu typically arrives with the colder winter months, as does the norovirus vomiting bug. Others, such as typhoid, tend to peak during the summer. Measles cases drop during the summer in temperate climates, while in tropical regions they peak in the dry season.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, many people are now asking whether we can expect similar seasonality with Covid-19. Since it first emerged in China around mid-December, the virus has spread quickly, with the number of cases now rising most sharply in Europe and the US.

Many of the largest outbreaks have been in regions where the weather is cooler, leading to speculation that the disease might begin to tail off with the arrival of summer. Many experts, however, have already cautioned against banking too much on the virus dying down over the summer.

And they are right to be cautious. The virus that causes Covid-19 – which has been officially named SARS-CoV-2 – is too new to have any firm data on how cases will change with the seasons. The closely related Sars virus that spread in 2003 was contained quickly, meaning there is little information about how it was affected by the seasons.

But there are some clues from other coronaviruses that infect humans as to whether Covid-19 might eventually become seasonal.

A study conducted 10 years ago by Kate Templeton, from the Centre for Infectious Diseases at the University of Edinburgh, UK, found that three coronaviruses – all obtained from patients with respiratory tract infections at hospitals and GP surgeries in Edinburgh – showed marked winter seasonality”. These viruses seemed to cause infections mainly between December and April – a similar pattern to that seen with influenza. A fourth coronavirus, which was mainly found in patients with reduced immune systems, was far more sporadic.

There are some early hints that Covid-19 may also vary with the seasons. The spread of outbreaks of the new disease around the world seems to suggest it has a preference for cool and dry conditions.

An unpublished analysis comparing the weather in 500 locations around the world where there have been Covid-19 cases seems to suggest a link between the spread of the virus and temperature, wind speed and relative humidity. Another unpublished study has also shown higher temperatures are linked to lower incidence of Covid-19, but notes that temperature alone cannot account for the global variation in incidence.

Further as-yet-unpublished research, predicts that temperate warm and cold climates are the most vulnerable to the current Covid-19 outbreak, followed by arid regions. Tropical parts of the world are likely to be least affected, the researchers say.

Pandemics often don’t follow the same seasonal patterns seen in more normal outbreaks

But without real data over a number of seasons, researchers are relying upon computer modelling to predict what might happen over the course of the year.

Extrapolating data about Covid-19’s seasonality based on endemic coronaviruses – meaning they have been circulating in human populations for some time – is challenging, not least because endemic viruses are seasonal for a number of reasons that might not currently apply to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Pandemics often don’t follow the same seasonal patterns seen in more normal outbreaks. Spanish flu, for example, peaked during the summer months, while most flu outbreaks occur during the winter. (Read more aboutwhat Spanish flu can teach us about Covid-19.)

Eventually we would expect to see Covid-19 becoming endemic,” says Jan Albert, a professor of infectious disease control who specialises in viruses at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. And it would be really surprising if it didn’t show seasonality then. The big question is whether the sensitivity of this virus to [the seasons] will influence its capacity to spread in a pandemic situation. We don’t know for sure, but it should be in the back of our heads that it is possible.”

We need to be cautious, therefore, when using what we know about the seasonal behaviour of other coronaviruses to make predictions about the current Covid-19 pandemic. But why are related coronaviruses seasonal, and why does that offer hope for this outbreak?

Coronaviruses are a family of so-called enveloped viruses”. This means they are coated in an oily coat, known as a lipid bilayer, studded with proteins that stick out like spikes of a crown, helping to give them their name – corona is ancient Greek for crown.

Research on other enveloped viruses suggests that this oily coat makes the viruses more susceptible to heat than those that do not have one. In colder conditions, the oily coat hardens into a rubber-like state, much like fat from cooked meat will harden as it cools, to protect the virus for longer when it is outside the body. Most enveloped viruses tend to show strong seasonality as a result of this.

Research has already shown that Sars-Cov-2 can survive for up to 72 hours on hard surfaces like plastic and stainless steel at temperatures of between 21-23C (70-73F) and in relative humidity of 40%. Exactly how the Covid-19 virus behaves at other temperatures and humidity has still to be tested, but research on other coronaviruses suggests they can survive for more than 28 days at 4C. (Read more abouthow long Covid-19 can survive on surfaces.)

A closely related coronavirus that caused the Sars outbreak in 2003 has also been found to survive best in cooler, drier conditions. For example, dried Sars virus on smooth surfaces remained infectious for over five days at between 22-25C and with a relative humidity of 40–50%. The higher the temperature and humidity, the shorter the virus survived.

Climate comes into play because it affects the stability of the virus outside the human body when expelled by coughing or sneezing, for example,” says Miguel Araújo, who studies the effects of environmental change on biodiversity at the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid, Spain. The greater the time the virus remains stable in the environment, the greater its capacity to infect other people and become epidemic. While Sars-Cov-2 has quickly spread all over the world, the major outbreaks have mainly occurred in places exposed to cool and dry weather.”

A recent analysis suggests that this pandemic coronavirus will be less sensitive to the weather than many hope

His computer models certainly seem to match the pattern of outbreaks around the world, with the highest number of cases outside of the tropics.

Araújo believes that if Covid-19 shares a similar sensitivity to temperature and humidity, it could mean cases of coronavirus will flare up at different times around the world.

It is reasonable to expect the two viruses will share similar behaviour,” he says. But this is not a one-variable equation. The virus spreads from human to human. The more humans at any given place and the more they get into contact with each other, the more infections there will be. Their behaviour is key to understanding the propagation of the virus.”

A study from the University of Maryland has shown that the virus has spread most in cities and regions of the world where average temperatures have been around 5-11C (41-52F) and relative humidity has been low.

But there have been considerable numbers of cases in tropical regions, too. A recent analysis of the spread of the virus in Asia by researchers at Harvard Medical School suggests that this pandemic coronavirus will be less sensitive to the weather than many hope.

They conclude that the rapid growth of cases in cold and dry provinces of China, such as Jilin and Heilongjiang, alongside the rate of transmission in tropical locations, such as Guangxi and Singapore, suggest increases in temperature and humidity in the spring and summer will not lead to a decline in cases. They say it underlines the need for extensive public health interventions to control the disease.This is because the spread of a virus depends on far more than simply its ability to survive in the environment. And this is where understanding the seasonality of diseases becomes complicated. For a disease like Covid-19, it is people who are now spreading the virus, and so seasonal changes in human behaviour can also lead to shifts in infection rates.

Measles cases in Europe, for example, tend to coincide with school terms and decrease during the holidays when children are not spreading the virus to one another. The enormous migration of people around the Chinese Lunar New Year on 25 January has also been suggested to have played a key role in the spread of Covid-19 out of Wuhan to other cities in China and around the world.

The weather can also mess with our own immune systems to make us more vulnerable to infections, too. There is some evidence to suggest the vitamin D levels in our bodies can have an affect on how vulnerable we are to infectious diseases. In the winter our bodies make less vitamin D from sunlight exposure, mainly because we spend more time indoors and wrap ourselves in clothing against the cold air. But some studies have found this theory is unlikely to account for seasonal variation seen in diseases like flu.

More controversial is whether cold weather weakens our immune systems – some studies suggest it does, but others find the cold can actually boost the number of cells that defend our bodies from infection.

There is stronger evidence, however, that humidity can have a greater impact on our vulnerability to disease. When the air is particularly dry, it is thought to reduce the amount of mucus coating our lungs and airways. This sticky secretion forms a natural defence against infections and with less of it, we are more vulnerable to viruses.

Stopping contact between people should also bring down the infection rates

One intriguing study by scientists in China suggests there is some sort of relationship between how deadly Covid-19 can be and the weather conditions. They looked at nearly 2,300 deaths in Wuhan, China, and compared them to the humidity, temperature and pollution levels on the day they occurred.

Although it has yet to be published in an academic journal, their research suggests mortality rates were lower on days when the humidity levels and temperatures were higher. Their analysis also suggests that on days where the maximum and minimum temperature ranges were greater, there were higher levels of mortality. But this work is largely also based on computer modelling, so the exact nature of this relationship, and whether it will be seen in other parts of the world, is still to be explored.

As the virus causing the Covid-19 pandemic is new, it is unlikely many people, if anyone, will have immunity against it until they have been infected and have recovered. This means the virus will spread, infect and cause disease in a way quite unlike endemic viruses.

Air travel has been the main route by which the virus has spread around the world so rapidly, says Vittoria Colizza, director of research at the French Institute of Health and Medical Research. But once it starts spreading within a community, it is close contact between people that drives the transmission. Stopping contact between people should also bring down the infection rates. This is exactly what many governments have been attempting to do with the escalating lockdown of public places around the world.

There’s no evidence yet for a seasonal behaviour of Covid-19,” says Colizza. The behavioural component may play a role, too.” But she warns it is too early to know if the measures put in place will be enough to stall the spread of the virus. By itself, it may partially reduce effective contagiousness due to the reduction of contacts along which the disease could be transmitted.”

And if cases of Covid-19 do indeed tail off over the coming months it could be for a number of reasons – prevention measures such as isolation and lockdowns are being successful; there is growing immunity in the population; or it may be an effect of the season, as Albert’s models suggest.

If there is a seasonal effect, it could mask the true impact of the other two,” warns Albert. In countries where a strong lockdown has meant not many people have been exposed, then I wouldn’t be surprised that we will see a second wave come the fall and winter.”

Even if Covid-19 does show some seasonal variability, it is unlikely to disappear entirely over the summer months, as some have suggested. But a dip in cases might bring some benefits.

The steps we are taking to flatten out the curve are expensive in economic terms, but they could help us push this pandemic into the summer,” says Albert. If there is some seasonality, it might buy health systems the time they need to prepare.”

And in a world scrambling to cope with the rapidly rising number of cases, it might just be time we desperately need.

Courtesy Adaderana

Courtesy Adaderana

The United States could become the new centre of the global coronavirus pandemic, according to the World Health Organization, which said case numbers were rising quickly there even as Donald Trump talked of re-opening the country for business.

We are now seeing a very large acceleration in cases in the US. So it does have that potential [to become the centre of the pandemic],” the WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris said.

So far, 46,450 people in the US have become infected with the virus and there have been 593 deaths, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University.

There have been 46,369 confirmed cases across the US so far. The true number of cases is likely to be significantly higher.

Trump acknowledged that crucial healthcare supplies to protect frontline staff treating sick patients were becoming difficult to obtain.

In an early morning tweet, Trump said: The world market for face masks and ventilators is crazy. We are helping the states to get equipment, but it is not easy.”

But while more US governors were urging people to stay at home, Trump appeared to play down the crisis on Monday night.

The president said he was considering ways to restart the economy in the coming weeks and wanted to avoid the pandemic becoming a long-lasting financial problem”. It would not last as long as three or four months, he said.

Our country was not built to be shut down,” Trump said. This is not a country that was built for this.”

Trump’s top advisers referred to current government restrictions as a 15-day challenge” and pledged to revisit in a week’s time the need for sweeping measures to prevent the spread of the virus.
In Spain, meanwhile, the numbers infected and tested rose from 33,089 to 39,673 on Tuesday, according to the health ministry, while the death toll rose from 2,182 to 2,696.

Health workers accounted for nearly 14% of Spain’s total reported cases as of Tuesday, up from 12% the previous day, according to data presented by the health emergency chief, Fernando Simon.

An estimated 1.7 billion people around the world have been ordered to remain at home as governments take extreme measures to protect their populations. Britain became the latest country to enter lockdown, after bans on movement came into force at midnight on Monday.

France entered a two-month state of health emergency” on Tuesday that provides a legal framework for existing confinement and restrictive measures and allows the government to order further restrictions, including controlling the price of certain products and requisitioning people and property for the war” effort.

The Dutch government strengthened its containment measures, banning all public gatherings regardless of size until 1 June. Mayors have been empowered to close beaches, parks, campsites and other public spaces if people are not respecting physical distancing rules that are set in the Netherlands at a 1.5 metre gap between people. The prime minister, Mark Rutte, described the boosted measures as an intelligent lockdown”.

Meanwhile tens of millions of people living in Hubei province, the centre of China’s outbreak, were told they would be able to resume travel from midnight (1600 GMT), except in the city of Wuhan.

China claims to have largely brought its outbreak under control, reporting only imported cases of the virus and few or no new domestic cases in recent days. However the claims have been questioned by residents and analysts, who note that some hospitals are reportedly refusing to test for the virus, and that there are allegations of manipulated numbers, and rumours of unreported cases.

Source: The Guardian
-Agencies

Courtesy Adaderana

Courtesy Adaderana

Many political party representatives have expressed their support for a national programme to prevent the spread of coronavirus (Covid-19), instead of convening a Parliament session, Prime Minister’s Office says.

A meeting to discuss the current situation prevailing in the island, prompted by the Novel Coronavirus outbreak was worked off under the patronage of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Temples Trees this morning (24).

Steps taken by the government to curb the spread of the virus were discussed during the meeting.

Former President Maithripala Sirisena, former Speaker of Parliament Karu Jayasuriya, UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, Leader of Samagi Jana Balawegaya Sajith Premadasa, National Organizer of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Basil Rajapaksa, Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi and several other political party representatives and State officials joined this discussion.

Ranil Wickremesinghe, addressing the meeting, said: We need curfew to be in effect for some more time but there are issues regarding rural economy. So, I believe that we will be able to resolve this through discussion. We can give permit leave for all public servants who are not essential to be at work. I say that we should bring as much testing equipment as possible.”

He also lauded the measures put in place by the government in the fight against coronavirus while adding that it should be continued.

PM Rajapaksa appreciated the participants for sharing their views on how to save the country from the virus irrespective of political differences.